Would-be African Astronaut Dies In Road Crash

Mandla Maseka just 30 years old, a South African who won the chance to be the first black African in space has died in a motorbike accident before turning his dream into reality.

In 2013, the South African Air Force member beat one million entrants to win one of 23 places at a space academy in the US. Nicknamed Afronaut and Spaceboy, Maseko described himself as a typical township boy from Pretoria.

Maseka had spent a week at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida doing tests in preparation for an hour-long sub-orbital flight, originally scheduled for 2015. Maseko was so desperate to do something that would motivate and inspire young people in Africa and prove that they could achieve anything whatever their background. 

In an interview with the BBC before he died, he stated: "I hope I have one line that will be used in years to come - like Neil Armstrong did.”