World Space Week: The only two South Africans who have ever been to space

FILE. Pilot Mike Melvill waves as he sits atop SpaceShipOne as it is towed following his historic flight out of the Earth's atmosphere which marks the world's first privately funded rocket plane flight into space, 21 June 2004 at the Mojave Airport in California. SpaceShipOne, designed by aerospace legend Burt Rutan and funded by billionaire Paul G. Allen, reached a height of 62 miles (100km) making Melvill the world's first private astronaut. Picture: ROBYN BECK / AFP It is common knowledge that billionaire Mark Shuttleworth was the first South African to travel into space. However, as World Space Week rolls around, it may come as a surprise to many that two people from Mzansi have actually achieved this historic feat. Shuttleworth boarded a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in April 2002 bound for the International Space Station (ISS), officially earning his title as the first South African in space. Just two years later, in June 2004, Mike Melvill became the second. Melvill, a South African-born veteran test pilot, helmed SpaceShipOne on the world's first privately funded human spaceflight beyond the 100km boundary of space.