Space flight participant, Republic of South Africa

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: born on September 18, 1973 in gold-mining town of Welkom in South Africa, and grew up in Cape Town where his parents moved afterwards.
His farther is Richard Dalton Shuttleworth, a surgeon.
His mother is Ronelle Shuttleworth. They live in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa.

He is a citizen of Republic of South Africa and Great Britain. He lived in South Africa from his birth till February 2001, and then moved to London.
 

EDUCATION: graduated from high school in 1991, and in 1995 from University of Cape Town, where he received a Bachelors degree in business finance and information systems. A specialist in software and networking technologies.

FAMILY STATUS: unmarried.

AWARDS AND RANKS: Academic award for completion of training at Reese Air Base, Texas. Honorary student of the Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. Honorary student of the US Flight Safety School, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. Long Service medal from Italian Air Force (1997).

HOBBIES: travel, technology, Internet.

WORK EXPERIENCE: Mark developed a profound interest in science in his early youth. His scientific interests include software development, digital media technologies, biotechnology and particle physics. While studying finance at the University of Cape Town he first encountered the Internet and quickly realized the significance of the changes the global network might bring in business and society.
In December 1995 he founded Thawte Consulting as an Internet consulting business. The focus of the company quickly shifted to Internet security for electronic commerce. Thawte became the first company to produce a full-security e-commerce web server that was commercially available outside the United States. Thawte worked on the public key infrastructure, which is the basis for all encripted and authenticated Internet transactions. By February 2000, when Thawte Consulting was acquired by VeriSign in USA, Thawte had become the fastest-growing Internet Certificate Authority, and was the leading Certificate Authority outside of the US.
In September 2000 he formed a new company called HBD. This is a venture-capital company seeking to invest in innovative technology companies that are based in South Africa but that have the potential to serve a global marketplace.
In October 2000 he created a non-profit organization The Shuttleworth Foundation that supports innovation in education. The Shuttleworth Foundation funds projects that contribute to improving the quality and accessibility of education in Africa, and unlocking the creative potential of every child in Africa.
Mark also funds and contributes to an international non-profit organization Bridges.org that seeks to help people in developing countries use information and communications technology to improve their lives, strengthen democratic institutions and the freedom of press.
His fascination with new technology brought Mark to Star City, Russia. He passed a medical checkup and was cleared for space flight training. Since July 2001 he has been training for space flight as a space flight participant within the main crew of Soyuz TM transportation vehicle for the third visiting mission to ISS.

April 2002.
Based on materials from Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center 
and web site www.africaninspace.com