Mark Shuttleworth

Mark Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973 in Welkom, Free State) is a South African entrepreneur. As an early space tourist, he was the first African in space.

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After going to school at Diocesan College, Shuttleworth obtained a Business Science degree in Finance and Information Systems at the University of Cape Town.

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In 1995, he founded Thawte, which specialised in digital certificates and internet security. He sold Thawte in December 1999 to VeriSign, and subsequently formed HBD Venture Capital, a business incubator and venture capital provider, and the Shuttleworth Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to social innovation which also funds educational projects in South Africa.

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Shuttleworth gained worldwide fame on 25 April 2002 as a civilian cosmonaut aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-34 mission, paying approximately US$ 20 million. Two days later, the Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station, where he spent eight days, participating in experiments related to AIDS and genome research. On 5 May, he returned to Earth. In order to participate on the flight, Shuttleworth had to undergo one year of training and preparation, including seven months which he spent in Star City, Moscow.

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He participated as a Debian developer since the early 1990s, and in 2004 he returned to the GNU/Linux world by funding the development of Ubuntu Linux, a user-friendly version of Linux, through his company Canonical Ltd. In 2005 he founded the Ubuntu Foundation and made an initial investment of 10 million dollars. The foundation is used to pay Ubuntu contributors. In September of 2005, he purchased a 65% stake of ImpiLinux. http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=828

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Mark Shuttleworth currently lives in London.

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18 September: REDIRECT September 18...

1973: 1973 was a common year starting on Monday....

Welkom: Welkom is a city in central South Africa, in the northwestern part of Free State Province, with a population in 1991 of 68,111. It is 160 kilometres northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. The town is the hub of the Free State gold fields, serving several gold and uranium mines. In additi...

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