PHOTOS: Meet The First African Heading Into Space

Mandla Maseko is one of 23 people who won a seat on an hour-long sub-orbital trip in 2015. He has beaten about one million other people to get his spot in the team.Mandla applied for the program, just like millions of contenders from around the world.At the first stage, on national level, he had to answer a couple of theoretical questions, and to explain why he wanted to go into space.

“My response was: I want to defy the laws of gravity, and go down history as the first black South African in space,” the South-African revealed.

Then he was invited for a series for complicated trials and physical tests. He made it into top three, and was flown to Orlando in Florida on December 1, 2013, where there were 109 competitors from around the globe.

The picture below shows the Lynx Suborbital Vehicle. It will take Maseko and the other winners into space.