Building an African Space Programme from the ground up:

After Makerere University unveiled its locally assembled electric car, the Kiira EV, another group of Ugandans continues with yet another innovative venture- that of assembling the country’s first aircraft. The group that started out a year ago has now progressed and is in the final stages of putting up the aero-plane.

Standing in the yard of his mother’s home in a suburb of the Ugandan capital, Chris Nsamba maps out his dream — within the next ten years, the space enthusiast wants to launch one of his countrymen into orbit.

Nsamba, founder of the African Space Research Program, outlined his plans to Agence France-Presse as he showed off the African Skyhawk, an aircraft built by his team of volunteer engineers to test their skills before they begin work on a shuttle. Nsamba is well aware of the skepticism with which many will greet his plans, but it does not seem to affect him. At one time or another, he says, every successful scientist has been called a madman.