A view of SA from space as African countries look to space to solve problems

As South Africa marked Freedom Day on Thursday, a Euro-French spacecraft pilot Thomas Pesquet tweeted a photo of a “side view” of South Africa from space.

Pesquet tweeted: “Side view! This is us flying around South Africa, on our way from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean. Happy #FreedomDay!”

According to his Twitter profile, Pesquet is on a six-month International Space Station mission, and his Twitter feed keeps those on earth updated on where he is and the sights he sees.

According to a report by the Good Things Guy, Pesquet is working as a flight engineer on expeditions that were launched in November last year and are expected to return this May.

As Pesquet looks at Africa from space, a report by TimesLive stated that African countries were increasingly looking to space in a bid to solve their problems.

According to a professor of space studies at the University of Cape Town, Peter Martinez, several African countries have established national space agencies over the past few years and Martinez reportedly attributes this to barriers to entry being lower than they were previously and that space technology made it easier for satellites to be launched in space.

The report further quoted Harvard professor, Calestous Juma, who specialises in developing countries’ space programmes, as saying African space programmes were mainly “about satellites technology”, as countries could use satellites to collect data that may benefit citizens, especially in terms of sustainable development and job creation.

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