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A South African who was lucky enough to be the first African black in space died of a motorcycle accident before making his dream come true, his family said Sunday.
Mandla Maseko, a half-time DJ and candidate candidate for the South African Air Force, was nicknamed "Afronaut" after landing a coveted seat to cover 103 km (64 miles) in space in 2013 as part of the A contest organized by an American company. academy of space.
He died Saturday in a motorcycle accident, according to a family statement cited by local media.
The 30-year-old had beaten a million other competitors from 75 countries to be selected among the 23 people who would travel for an hour or sub-orbital aboard the Lynx Mark II spacecraft.
Born in a cleaning and automotive tooling school in the suburbs of Soshanguve near Pretoria, his victory was a source of national pride. His neighbors liked him very much for placing the townships of South Africa on the "galactic map".
He spent a week at the Kennedy Space Academy in Florida, where he skydived and began air combat training and strength training.
There he met and posed for American astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who was the second man to set foot on the moon after Neil Armstrong as part of the 1969 Apollo 11 space mission.
He was originally scheduled to take the plane in 2015, but no specific plans for his trip were made public at the time of his death.
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