'Ultima' Game Creator Follows Dad Into Space
Yesterday, as the Russian Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft rocketed into space, Richard Garriott (better known by his alias "Lord British" from his early computer game designing days) officially became the world's sixth privately funded astronaut and the United States' first second-generation space adventurer. The journey of Garriott, well-known in gaming circles as the designer of the 'Ultima' series and founder of Origin systems, is just the latest development in the increasingly discussed arena of private space travel.
Richard Garriot is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen K. Garriott, who flew on the space station Skylab over 30 years ago. Having raised a substantial amount of private funds to offset the trip's $30 million dollar tab, Garriott (the younger) will carry the digitized DNA sequences of famous thinkers, artists and athletes into space to contribute to "the immortality drive" project. The project serves as a kind of genetic time capsule to be stored in the space station, and the collection will feature DNA reproductions of such celebrities as comedian Stephen Colbert, physicist Stephen Hawking and guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson.
Garriott's other tasks will include expanding the international space station to accommodate more live-in astronauts. Garriott hopes that his raising a sizable portion of the $30 million dollar fee will serve as motivation for other adventurous private citizens who have dreamed of space travel.
That all sounds well and good, but exactly how much of $30 million does "a sizable portion" mean? Unless it means "all of it," we'll just settle for playing the computer game. [From: USA Today and Joystiq]
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