Mark Shuttleworth, born September 18, 1973 in South Africa, is the first African from an independent country to travel to space. He launched aboard Soyuz TM-34 in April 2002 as a space tourist to the International Space Station, and returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-33 in May 2002, having spent almost 10 days in space.
Konstantin Kozeyev, born December 1, 1967 in the former Soviet Union, went into space aboard Soyuz TM-33 in October 2001 as a flight engineer to the International Space Station. He spent almost 10 days on the station before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-32.
Soyuz TM-33 crew (L-R): Konstantin Kozeyev, Viktor Afansayev, Claudie Haignere
Mission patch
Soyuz TM-33, launched October 21, 2001, carried a new crew and supplies to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Viktor Afansayev (Roscosmos), Claudie Haignere (ESA) and Konstantin Kozeyev (Roscosmos). The crew returned to Earth on October 31 on Soyuz TM-32.
Soyuz TM-33 returned to Earth on May 5, 2002 with Commander Yuri Gidzenko (Roscosmos), Roberto Vittori (ESA) and Mark Shuttleworth, a space tourist from South Africa.
Roberto Vittori, born October 15, 1964 in Viterbo, Lazio, Italy, is an astronaut with the European Space Agency and a veteran of three space flights.
His first mission into space was aboard Soyuz TM-34, launched in April 2002 as flight engineer to the International Space Station. He returned to Earth about two weeks later on Soyuz TM-33.
His second trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-6, launched in April 2005 as flight engineer to the ISS. He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-5 later that month. He became the first European astronaut to visit the ISS twice.
His third flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-134) May-June 2011 as mission specialist to the ISS, the next to last flight of the space shuttle project. Vittori was the last non-American to fly on a space shuttle.
Crew (L-R): Yuri Gidzenko, Mark Shuttleworth, Roberto Vittori
Soyuz TM-34, launched April 25, 2002, was the fourth Soyuz mission to the International Space Station and carried the first South African into space. Its crew consisted of Commander Yuri Gidzenko (Roscomos) and Roberto Vittori (European Space Agency). Mark Shuttleworth, a space tourist from South Africa, the first from that country in space, was the second self-funded space tourist.
Yuri Gidzenko, born March 26, 1962 in Ukraine, has flown on Soyuz spacecraft and a space shuttle, and has spent time on both Mir and the International Space Station.
His first trip into space was as Commander aboard Soyuz TM-22, launched September 3, 1995 to the space station Mir, as part of the twentieth expedition, Mir EO-20. He remained on board until February 29, 1996.
His second trip into space was as Commander of Soyuz TM-31, launched October 31, 2000, which carried Sergei Krikalev and William Shepherd (NASA), for the first long-duration ISS crew. Expedition 1. They returned to Earth aboard Discovery (STS-102) in March 2001.
Gidzenko's third and final flight was Commander aboard Soyuz TM-34, launched April 25, 2002, to the ISS. Then he remained on ISS for about 10 days and returned aboard Soyuz TM-33 May 5, 2002.
Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev, born December 31, 1948 (same day as Donna Summer!) in Bryansk, Russia, is a cosmonaut who has visited both Mir and the International Space Station. From 1985-1987 he took space training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and flew his first mission on Soyuz TM-11, which launched December 2, 1990. He spent 175 days on Mir as part of the eighth manned expedition (EO-8) returning May 1991.
Afanasyev was commander of Soyuz TM-18 from January-July 1994 as part of the EO-15 crew. This time he spent 182 days on Mir.
His third flight was as commander on Soyuz TM-29, which launched February 1999 to Mir for the EO-27 crew. He returned to Earth in August after 188 days in space.
His fourth and last flight was on Soyuz TM-33 to the International Space Station in October 2001 as commander and returned later that month on Soyuz TM-32.
He has conducted 7 EVAs for a total of over 38 hours and has logged 545 days in space.
