SUNSAT, an advanced microsatellite developed by students at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, was launched by NASA from Vandenberg Airforce Base on a Delta II rocket in May of 1997.

Its been 28 years since our first satellite.

And 23 years since Mark Shuttleworth became the first South African in space, traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2002.

The reason I post this is because of social media claiming “Tunisia became the first African nation to launch a home-made satellite”.

The country may be the first in the Maghreb region, but is not the first on the continent. That accolade goes to South Africa.

On March 22, 2021, Tunisia successfully launched its first locally made satellite — Challenge One — from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Something to think about as we enter a period of competing claims about space exploration in our backyard.