The 41-year-old Dean Roddan, a flight simulation engineer will soon be jetting off to Orlando Florida, USA where he will train and compete in the AXE Apollo global space camp. He will be up against two fellow South Africans, Mandla Maseko (25) a student and DJ, and shark diving enthusiast Haroon Osman (38), for one seat which is allocated and guaranteed to a South African.
The trio went through a gruesome semifinal stage at the South African space camp in Parys. They overcame a series of tests including fighting the forces of gravity to attach flags to a pole, skydived while dropping sandbags on a target and performed aerobatics in a stunt plane. “I felt so privileged just to be there,” said Roddan.
He said he was going to prepare for the camp like he had never done before, “I will make this country, the pioneers that have gone before me, my friends and family and those that have yet to know who I am, to stand up and say ‘he did it and we are proud,” he said
Provided that Roddan wins the South African seat, he will be among 22 global finalists who will get the opportunity of seeing our planet from 100km in space and thereby achieve astronaut status.
“I have dreamt of seeing our blue planet from such a distance my whole life and I’m not sure one could be quite prepared for what it is going to do to you,” he added.
