South Africa is mourning the death of Mandla Maseko, the man who had his eyes set on becoming the first black African to go into space.
The 30-year-old died in a motorcycle crash in Pretoria over the weekend, according to a family statement reported by local media.
Maseko became an inspiration to many South Africans when he won an international competition to get a training place at the Axe Apollo Space Academy – and a possible space flight.
From more than one million entrants, he was selected to be one of 23 civilians to compete for a seat onboard a sub-orbital flight, 100 kilometres above the Earth.
Maseko, who came from a poor township outside Pretoria, said that his role model was Nelson Mandela.
South Africa’s “Afronaut”, as the young man became known, spent a week in training at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2015.
Although the actual space flight didn’t take place in the end, Maseko was still trying.
The part-time disc jockey was a candidate officer in the air force, according to South Africa’s Eye Witness News.
His goal was to go into suborbital flight in which he would experience weightlessness.
Photo credit: Mandla “Spaceboy” Maseko Facebook page
AP
