In a significant development, Professor Christer Fuglesang, a distinguished Swedish and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, is scheduled to embark on a tour of South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia in the first week of October. This event is part of the activities of the European Commission funded project called FAST4Future.

During his visit, Professor Fuglesang plans to hold crucial meetings with government officials and university leaders to discuss ways to elevate the role of space science in Africa's future development. These discussions are expected to pave the way for collaborative efforts aimed at harnessing the potential of space technology for the continent's advancement.

In addition to these high-level engagements, Professor Fuglesang will grace the public with his insights and experiences through public lectures.

It is to be recalled that, during the STS-116 mission, Prof. Fuglesang conducted three spacewalks alongside Astronaut Robert Curbeam. Their tasks included installing the P5 truss segment during the first spacewalk on December 12, 2006. The second spacewalk, on December 14th, focused on rewiring the ISS's power system channels 2 and 3. Additionally, an extra spacewalk on December 18th successfully resolved a solar panel retraction issue. In total, Prof. Fuglesang spent an extra spacewalk (EVA; time an astronaut gets out of a vehicle while in space) of 18 hours and 15 minutes conducting spacewalks during the STS-116 mission.

Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting visit and the potential impact it could have on Africa's space science landscape! 

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