Space tourist Richard Garriott and cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko have landed safely in a Soyuz spacecraft in Central Asia. Early reports are that all three space travelers felt fine after returning to Earth from the International Space Station. Garriott and Volkov are both second-generation space travelers. Richard’s father, Owen, flew aboard Skylab and the space shuttle. Oleg’s father Alexander flew aboard the Mir space station in 1991.
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Millionaut Richard Garriott (bottom left) arrived aboard the International Space Station early Tuesday. Here he poses with a some lesser-known professional space travelers.
You can follow Garriott’s 10-day, $30 million joyride/working vacation at richardinspace.com.
SPACE ADVENTURES PRESS RELEASE
The spacecraft docked to the ISS at 4:38 a.m. (EDT) with Garriott and Expedition 18 crewmembers NASA astronaut Mike Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov. They were greeted at 6:00 a.m. (EDT) by the Expedition 17 crew, which includes Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, when the hatch to the space station opened.
Sergey Brin (center, full head of hair) prepares for an orbital vacation aboard Zero G’s aircraft. Google Founder Brin Visits Russian Space Cosmodrome Reuters “Google co-founder Sergey Brin, considering going into space on a private flight, made a surprise visit to Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome on Saturday to wish good luck to a fellow space tourist. “Richard Garriott, a U.S. computer game developer and Brin’s friend, is due to blast off […]
Former Astronaut’s Son Blasts Off Toward Space Station Space.com “American space tourist Richard Garriott, the son of a former NASA astronaut, rocketed into orbit early Sunday aboard a Russian spacecraft alongside two professional spaceflyers to become the first second-generation American astronaut to launch toward the International Space Station. “Garriott, a 47-year-old computer video game pioneer, blasted off from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:01 a.m. […]
PRESS RELEASE
Stephen Hawking, best selling author of “A Brief History of Time†and the children’s book “George’s Secret Key to the Universe†written along with his daughter Lucy, will be sending his digitized DNA into space as part of NCsoft’s® Operation Immortalityâ„¢.
Lucy Hawking is also participating in the project. Together, the father and daughter are hoping the project will raise awareness of the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, a competition that will award $10 million to the first person or team that can sequence 100 human genomes within 10 days or less.
There are a couple of updates on the journey of “Lord British” – fantasy game designer Richard Garriott – to the International Space Station, which is set for October 12. The space tourist will perform a suite of experiments in cooperation with NASA. He also will carry ideas for commercial space ventures proposed by 11 British school children.
First Second Generation Astronaut, Richard Garriott, to Perform Research while in Space in Cooperation with NASA
Space Adventures Press Release
Space Adventures, Ltd. announced today that their orbital spaceflight client, Richard Garriott, will participate in a suite of experiments in cooperation with NASA during his 10-day mission.
Mr. Garriott is scheduled to launch on October 12 on board a Soyuz TMA spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan en route to the International Space Station (ISS). He will be joining the Expedition 18 crew which includes NASA astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov.
Stephen Colbert interviewed game developer and future millionaut Richard Garriott on Thursday night for his satirical “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central. The host had a telephone chat with Garriott, who was in Russia undergoing training for his upcoming flight to the International Space Station.
There are a few new profiles of folks who are pouring millions of dollars they made off software development into space ventures. Space Racer Takes Off Forbes.com A profile of 38-year-old John Carmack, of “Doom” and “Quake” fame, who founded Armadillo Aerospace. A cheap shot at space – if it ever gets off the ground The Guardian An interview with 37-year-old SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who seems undaunted by three […]
Probably feeling a bit overshadowed, Richard Garriott surfaced two days after the WhiteKnightTwo rollout to remind everyone that, unlike Virgin Galactic’s customers, he won’t have to wait another two years for a brief 300-second taste of space travel.
In fact, the son of Skylab’s Owen Garriott will only have to wait another two months before he flies to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on October 12. Instead of spending $200,000 for five minutes of weightlessness aboard SpaceShipTwo, the millionaire software developer will spend $3 million per day for the 10-day trip into orbit.Â
In this update from MSNBC, Garriott explains how the $30 million joyride will eat up the “majority” of the fortune he’s accumulated developing medieval fantasy games. Since “majority” can mean anything from 50.01 to 99.99 percent, that really doesn’t tell us very much. It’s highly likely the millionaut will make a good amount of that back in terms of publicity, speaking fees and the like.
The other interesting piece of news: Garriott will carry “the immortality drive” to the space station. The article describes it as “a computer project that will include a list of humanity’s greatest achievements, digitized human DNA and personal messages from Earthlings. The program will be stored on the space station in case calamity were to one day wipe out Earth.”
Alan Boyle helps the space tourism industry celebrate its fourth “birthday” with a piece over at MSNBC. Or, more accurately, he marks the anniversary of Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites ushering in the “age of privately developed spaceflight” with the first suborbital flight of SpaceShipOne. Boyle reviews the progress since that date, noting the only predictable thing is the industry’s unpredictability. Virgin Galactic’s first suborbital tourist flight is still about two […]