Space Adventures’ Orbital Spaceflight Client, Richard Garriott, Begins Cosmonaut Training for October Spaceflight Launch

Garriott’s mission to include scientific and environmental research,
and educational outreach

Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced today that famed game developer Richard Garriott, son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, has begun training at the Yuri Gagarin Training Center in Star City, Russia in preparation for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) currently planned for October.

“I am quite excited to be in training now and I look forward to all aspects that it will entail,” said Richard Garriott.  “But, I am particularly enthusiastic to be here in Star City, as a resident, with its amazing history of space exploration. I’m honored to surround myself with its people and I am determined to learn as much as I possibly can, inside and outside the classroom.”

Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight will be the first in a series of missions that will accommodate commercial activity aboard the ISS.  Involvement from the private sector will include scientific and environmental research and educational outreach programming.

“Since announcing Richard’s intent to fly, we have been contacted by numerous corporations and non-profits seeking ways in which to participate in his space mission,” said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures.  “It is a very rare occasion when so many commercial opportunities are available during one spaceflight.  In the coming months, we will be announcing Richard’s mission partners and details on his planned on-orbit activities.”

Space Adventures made history in 2001 by organizing the mission of the first private space explorer. Now, the company continues to bring innovation to manned spaceflight by enabling corporate and non-profit entities to participate in commercial endeavors on the planet’s only orbiting outpost.

Interested parties, including commercial and non-profit entities and space enthusiasts, can get involved in Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight via his web site (www.richardinspace.com). Mr. Garriott will be updating the site continuously via photos, blog entries and individuals can submit questions and suggestions for his mission activities. “I want to involve as many people as possible in my mission,” said Mr. Garriott.

About Richard Garriott:

Richard Garriott is best known as a key figure in the computer gaming field. He was one of the earliest and most successful game developers. Mr. Garriott developed the Ultima series which remains the longest running computer game franchise, and with his brother, Robert, he founded Origin Systems, one of the most respected PC game developers and publishers. Richard also created Ultima Online, which ushered in the new massively multi-player online (MMO) genre, the fastest growing segment in computer gaming today. More recently, he co-founded the North American arm of NCsoft (www.PlayNC.com), the world’s largest online game developer and publisher. In November 2007, his latest game, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, launched in North America and in the European Union. For more information, please visit www.rgtr.com.

About Space Adventures:

Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world’s first private space explorers: Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev.

Astronaut's Son Ready To Fulfill Lifelong Dream

WASHINGTON -- When he was growing up in Houston, the son of an astronaut who lived in a neighborhood filled with astronauts and aerospace engineers, Richard Garriott always assumed that he would fly in space. After all, it was an experience his father described in very fact-of-the matter terms as a "nominal" experience.

Garriott, now a multimillionaire video game developer, will achieve his life-long goal of traveling into space in October 2008, but it was not an easy road -- or inexpensive.

Garriott, 46, is the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, who participated in two space missions including the 1973 Skylab 3 mission that orbited the Earth for 59 days and smashed the previous record for manned spaceflight duration. The younger Garriott is scheduled to become the sixth paying space tourist and the first offspring of an American astronaut to visit space.

Growing up near the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Nassau Bay, Texas, Garriott's neighbors on three sides were all astronauts. Everyone he knew was a NASA engineer in one way or another, so it seemed inevitable to him that he would grow up and go to space.

"It was a shock to me that as I got older, there were lots of reasons why going into space was such a rare commodity," Garriott said Tuesday in a media roundtable event in Washington sponsored by the Space Foundation.

His poor eyesight alone was enough to disqualify him from a NASA space mission. So he understood early in life that if he were to go into space, it would not be as a government astronaut, it would be through a private enterprise.

Passion for World Building

Garriott's passion for computers and building worlds to explore within them made him wealthy from a young age. He developed his first video game when he was in high school, one that generated $150,000 in personal revenue. He is also the creator of the popular Ultima series of online games and has started and sold two video game companies.

Garriott paid $30 million for his trip to space tourism firm Space Adventures of Vienna, Va., a company for which he sits on the board of directors. A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch him up to the International Space Station where he will spend several weeks. Garriott is contemplating paying another $15 million to take a spacewalk.

In January Garriott will leave for Star City, Russia, where his mission training will begin. He will learn spacecraft operation, survival and experimental training there as well as undergo medical testing to ensure he is ready for space.

The hardest part of his training will not be the physical rigors, he said. As a high-school computer prodigy, Garriott was permitted to develop his own self-taught computer curriculum in lieu of the two-year foreign language requirement. So learning his first foreign language, the Russian he will need to operate his space capsule, will be his greatest challenge.

Bonding with Dad

The thrill of being one of the first 500 humans to leave the planet is not Garriott's only goal. He is a true believer in the commercial value of manned spaceflight and will be taking with him a series of experiments he hopes will generate profit. In one experiment his father helped design, protein crystals will be made in the zero-gravity environment. The crystals form perfectly under these conditions, and accurate images of their structures are extremely valuable to pharmaceutical companies, he said.

"We're in the search for more and more of these activities that are not just research," Garriott said. "We're trying to find something that has resale value."

Owen Garriott is now serving as his son's chief scientist for the mission, helping his son find and verify the best commercial and scientific research activities for the mission.

"It's a great father-son bonding time," the younger Garriott said. "We haven't had the chance to really work closely together like this. So it's very cool from my perspective that I've got one of the world's leading experts close at hand who also happens to have such a deep personal relationship [with me]."

Expert Advice

Several weeks ago Garriott had a conversation with astronaut Alan Bean, who flew with Garriott's father on Skylab 3. Bean emphasized how important he thinks it is for people who are not military pilots to go up and experience space travel, as they will be well-suited when they return to talk about space travel and how it can be expanded in an entrepreneurial way.

Bean also told Garriott he does not expect him to experience the emotional letdown some astronauts have felt after achieving their long-time goal of getting to space. Garriott has had similar conversations with all five previous space tourists who told him the same thing.

"The feedback I'm getting from those I consider close to me imply this is going to do nothing but add to my life experience," Garriott said.

Garriot said his father is separated enough from his time in NASA's space program that he now regards the experience as more than just a nominal.

"He clearly gets a much bigger gleam in his eye when he reflects on some of the early pioneering work he had the chance to do."

Source: Space.com

Space Adventures Announces 1st Second Generation Astronaut

Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced today that famed game developer Richard Garriott, son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, has begun preparations for a “commercially active” mission to the International Space Station (ISS).


Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight, currently planned for October 2008, will be the first in a series of missions that will accommodate commercial activity aboard the ISS. Involvement from the private sector can include scientific and environmental research and educational outreach programming.


“It has always been Space Adventures’ goal to open the space frontier. Now, with Richard’s flight, we have designed a series of missions devoted to increase commercial involvement in manned space missions,” said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. “It is a very rare occasion when so many commercial opportunities are available in one space mission. We encourage interested parties to contact us.”


Space Adventures made history in 2001 by organizing the mission of the first private space explorer. Now, the company continues to bring innovation to manned space flight by enabling corporate and non-profit entities to participate in commercial endeavors on the planet’s only orbiting outpost.


“I am dedicating my spaceflight to science,” said Mr. Garriott. “It is my goal to devote a significant amount of my time aboard the space station to science, engineering and educational projects. I understand the necessity for conducting research in extreme environments whether it is collecting microorganisms from deep sea hydrothermal vents to carrying out experiments in the continuous micro-gravity of Earth orbit.” He continued, “We need to be adventurous in mind and stimulate our intellects to answer today’s most daunting scientific questions and to invent tomorrow’s technological marvels.”


The first commercial research partner involved in Mr. Garriott’s mission is ExtremoZyme, Inc., a biotechnology company co-founded by Owen Garriott. The company plans to conduct protein crystallization experiments in space with proteins that have important cellular functions and are usually associated with common human diseases. Having access to these superior crystals will enable researchers to learn more about the molecular details of these proteins which is essential for protein engineering and structure-guided drug design.


“Because of my career, it was almost natural for Richard to be interested in space and exploration. I am so pleased that he is able to embrace this himself and that he is dedicating his flight to research. I am very proud of him,” said Owen Garriott, Mr. Garriott’s father and former NASA astronaut (Skylab II/SL-3, STS-9/Spacelab-1).


Interested parties, including commercial and non-profit entities and space enthusiasts, can get involved in Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight via his web site (www.richardinspace.com). Mr. Garriott will be updating the site continuously via photos, blog entries and individuals can submit questions and suggestions for his mission activities. “I want to involve as many people as possible in my mission,” said Mr. Garriott.

About Richard Garriott:

Richard Garriott is best known as a key figure in the computer gaming field. He was one of the earliest and most successful game developers. Mr. Garriott developed the Ultima series which remains the longest running computer game franchise, and with his brother, Robert, he founded Origin Systems, one of the most respected PC game developers and publishers. Richard also created Ultima Online, which ushered in the new massively multi-player online (MMO) genre, the fastest growing segment in computer gaming today. More recently, he co-founded the North American arm of NCsoft, the world’s largest online game developer and publisher. In October, his latest game, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, will ship in North America and in the European Union. For more information, please visit www.rgtr.com.


About Space Adventures:

Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world’s first private space explorers: Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev.

Space Adventures Announces 1st Second Generation Astronaut

First private spaceflight open to commercial involvement in mission activities.
September 28 2007


Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced today that famed game developer Richard Garriott, son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, has begun preparations for a “commercially active” mission to the International Space Station (ISS).


Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight, currently planned for October 2008, will be the first in a series of missions that will accommodate commercial activity aboard the ISS. Involvement from the private sector can include scientific and environmental research and educational outreach programming.


“It has always been Space Adventures’ goal to open the space frontier. Now, with Richard’s flight, we have designed a series of missions devoted to increase commercial involvement in manned space missions,” said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. “It is a very rare occasion when so many commercial opportunities are available in one space mission. We encourage interested parties to contact us.”


Space Adventures made history in 2001 by organizing the mission of the first private space explorer. Now, the company continues to bring innovation to manned space flight by enabling corporate and non-profit entities to participate in commercial endeavors on the planet’s only orbiting outpost.


“I am dedicating my spaceflight to science,” said Mr. Garriott. “It is my goal to devote a significant amount of my time aboard the space station to science, engineering and educational projects. I understand the necessity for conducting research in extreme environments whether it is collecting microorganisms from deep sea hydrothermal vents to carrying out experiments in the continuous micro-gravity of Earth orbit.” He continued, “We need to be adventurous in mind and stimulate our intellects to answer today’s most daunting scientific questions and to invent tomorrow’s technological marvels.”


The first commercial research partner involved in Mr. Garriott’s mission is ExtremoZyme, Inc., a biotechnology company co-founded by Owen Garriott. The company plans to conduct protein crystallization experiments in space with proteins that have important cellular functions and are usually associated with common human diseases. Having access to these superior crystals will enable researchers to learn more about the molecular details of these proteins which is essential for protein engineering and structure-guided drug design.


“Because of my career, it was almost natural for Richard to be interested in space and exploration. I am so pleased that he is able to embrace this himself and that he is dedicating his flight to research. I am very proud of him,” said Owen Garriott, Mr. Garriott’s father and former NASA astronaut (Skylab II/SL-3, STS-9/Spacelab-1).


Interested parties, including commercial and non-profit entities and space enthusiasts, can get involved in Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight via his web site (www.richardinspace.com). Mr. Garriott will be updating the site continuously via photos, blog entries and individuals can submit questions and suggestions for his mission activities. “I want to involve as many people as possible in my mission,” said Mr. Garriott.

About Richard Garriott:

Richard Garriott is best known as a key figure in the computer gaming field. He was one of the earliest and most successful game developers. Mr. Garriott developed the Ultima series which remains the longest running computer game franchise, and with his brother, Robert, he founded Origin Systems, one of the most respected PC game developers and publishers. Richard also created Ultima Online, which ushered in the new massively multi-player online (MMO) genre, the fastest growing segment in computer gaming today. More recently, he co-founded the North American arm of NCsoft, the world’s largest online game developer and publisher. In October, his latest game, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, will ship in North America and in the European Union. For more information, please visit www.rgtr.com.


About Space Adventures:

Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world’s first private space explorers: Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev.