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Ultima creator reaches orbit

Several video game designers have launched aerospace projects--some with spectacularly fiery results. However, it wasn't until Sunday that the first game developer actually made it into space proper. That's when 47-year-old Richard "Lord British" Garriott, creator of Ultima and Tabula Rasa, took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz TMA-13 rocket, reaching orbit just minutes later.

Site of Soviet-era spaceflight triumphs, such as the first manned spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961, Baikonur now serves as the hub of the space program of the Russian Federation. To deal with cash shortages, Russia has entered into a partnership with Space Adventures, of which Garriott is a board member. Based in a suburb of Washington, D.C., Space Adventures specializes in shuttling wealthy "space tourists" to the International Space Station aboard Russian rockets for a substantial fee.

How substantial? According to the Associated Press, Garriott paid about $30 million for a 12-day trip into space. On Tuesday, he will dock with the ISS, where he will perform a number of experiments for sponsors helping to defray his trip's costs. As part of his own "Operation Immortality," Garriott also carries a hard drive containing the digitized DNA sequences of academics and celebrities, including physicist Stephen Hawking and late-night TV satirist Stephen Colbert. (Several dozen Tabula Rasa contest winners also had their DNA included.) The drive will be stored on board the ISS after Garriott's October 24 departure so that if the Earth's population is wiped out in some sort of catastrophe, its leading citizens might someday be genetically reconstituted.

"What I am trying to do is demonstrate that you can mount a very successful campaign to go into space and beyond because it's good business," Garriott told the AP.

Garriott also now holds the distinction of being the first American to follow a parent into space. His father, 77-year-old Owen Garriott, spent 60 days aboard Skylab in 1973 and 10 days aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1983.

Photo Credit: AP/Dmitry Lovetsky

93 Comments

  • JHayes167

    Posted May 7, 2009 2:11 pm PT

    this man is a super rich maniac. i saw a piece on him and his crazy castle house with a drawbridge and his weird collections on vbs.tv, and holy crap does this guy personify eccentric

  • naxosiiix

    Posted Nov 23, 2008 10:39 pm PT

    @nomadski69 - While he may have been born in another country, it was to American parents and they moved while he was still a baby. I was born in Germany to American parents, and at no point in my life have I considered myself German.

  • nomadski69

    Posted Nov 23, 2008 7:55 am PT

    American? He may be an American citizen, but he is still English - you cant rewrite where someone is born.

  • Kermyt

    Posted Nov 23, 2008 5:36 am PT

    His money, he can do what he wants with it......ilidiandemon, how much have you donated from you annual salary to charity this year. And be honest.

    Wish i had the money to fly me to the moon.

  • martianrobot

    Posted Nov 22, 2008 4:16 pm PT

    $30 million is a lot of money to spend on sending one man into space for what is basically a holiday. I reckon someone could've invented anti-gravity with that sort of cash, making space flight cheaper and easier for everybody, and more eco-friendly to boot.

    Or teleportation.

    Or at least a jetpac that doesn't burn your bum.

  • spork77

    Posted Nov 12, 2008 3:32 pm PT

    Wow I didn't realize successful people weren't allowed to do things for themselves. I forgot they are supposed to give all there hard earned money to people that do nothing for themselves. People donate still, but that doesn't mean they have to give ALL their money to others.

  • ilidiandemon

    Posted Oct 28, 2008 12:23 am PT

    With this money he could've helped a lot of people here, in earth. Today he spent 30 mill in a space flight... and today a child starved to death... Congratulations Richard, the Avatar is proud of you.

  • Media_Mind

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 2:39 pm PT

    good for him

  • kevinketavet

    Posted Oct 17, 2008 12:31 am PT

    Lucky son of a biatch, I did a pp presentation on space tourism for a final in school. The first space tourist only paid 16mil, I thought the price would come down as more people did this. Nasa makes its difficult, they dont want tourists in space, too much scenery they don't want us to see up there. ROSCOSMOS on the other hand...$$$

  • brownba3

    Posted Oct 16, 2008 12:55 pm PT

    And if you had the money to spend - wouldn't this be an awesome way to do it? Not many people can sing Major Tom and be autobigraphical...

  • tudyniuz

    Posted Oct 15, 2008 10:09 am PT

    ha?

  • HappyBB

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 9:27 pm PT

    Space, the final frontier of mankind. These are the stories of the star ship, Richdom!! Boldly go where no ordinary men has gone before!! Just making fun. I don't mean any disrespect to Richard "Lord British" Garriott.

  • sliny

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 4:35 pm PT

    grats to garriott

  • ChickenHounk911

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 1:27 pm PT

    Very Niiiice

    **thumbs up BORAT style**

  • Link1515

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 11:36 am PT

    Not a wise use of his money, but it would be an incredible experience.

  • razgriz_101

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 8:35 am PT

    great use of money not many people can say they have been in space and he departs on my birthday aswell xD.

  • GolgoThirteen

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 2:36 am PT

    Way to go Lord British! £30m, thats a lot.

  • Sagacious_Tien

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 11:31 pm PT

    the computers will clone us.

  • quietguy

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 6:46 pm PT

    Now the problem is: who's going to do the cloning if humanity gets wiped out?

  • dr_jashugan

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 6:06 pm PT

    The Ultimate journey to space.

  • GatCloudX

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 5:42 pm PT

    when you were in Kazhekstan did you go to space with BORAT?????

  • Erebus

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 5:21 pm PT

    After 47 years, Lord British finally got sent back home.

  • empregi

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 4:43 pm PT

    Lord British is not British? Bollocks!

  • TimSpot GameSpot staff member

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 4:34 pm PT

    RAT TAILS IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 4:30 pm PT

    Wow, I never knew he was related to the Skylab crewmember.
    Ayone got 20 mil they can loan me? Im good for it, hoest

  • Tsuchikage

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 3:03 pm PT

    Interesting story. I never expected to read about space flights on a video game site. I wish Mr. Garriott the best of luck on his mission.

  • Targzissian

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 3:02 pm PT

    Go Richard!!! Whatever the future of Tabula Rasa, at least he'll be able to say he created the Ultima series, explored the Titanic, and went into space. It's not wasteful at all to spend money on a venture such as this. Every cent we spend on space travel now will just make access to space cheaper and more reliable in the future.

  • JunoFallon

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 2:35 pm PT

    It's hard to put a price on seeing space, but in these times of financial colapes and woe in the USA it seems SO wasteful.

  • blackace

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 12:27 pm PT

    That's cool. He's gone where only few men/women have gone before. By the time space travel becomes the norm, I'll be dead and gone. LOL!! I'll see space when I dead.

  • TylrKakarot1

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 12:04 pm PT

    Thank God Colbert is one of those with DNA in space.

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 11:14 am PT

    So thats what he did with all the Tabula Rasa money, because i know for sure they havent updated the game at all.

  • Nekromenos

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 10:40 am PT

    Sith Lord British?

  • football_legend

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 10:36 am PT

    yeah, i heard about this Russian travel agency that send guys with deep pockets to orbit. Hope we have something like this soon here,

  • 9-Jack-9 GameSpot staff member

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 10:27 am PT

    The Ultimas are some of the best RPGs of all time, and brought me, god, entire months of fun when I was younger. Good for him.

  • combatsoldier

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 10:21 am PT

    This is really nice. I am happy for him.

  • Donkeljohn Site moderator

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 10:16 am PT

    The best part of this story has got to be the heart-warming portion about the son following in the footsteps of the father.

  • Chico_Azteca

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 10:07 am PT

    i dont kow you guys but

    going to space is worth every cent

  • Partisan357

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 10:00 am PT

    Can someone lend me 30 million? You know I'm good for it.

  • ThePope2k6

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:57 am PT

    For those wondering how Lord British got all that cash, he made it as a result of selling Origin to EA, which was an absolutely necessary move at the time. Origin was cash poor, and likely would not have survived had they not accepted a buyout. And there were some great Origin games after that buyout (Wing Commander, Crusader, System Shock)

    I think it's great news. Lord British is truly one of the legends of video game development, and it's likely that we wouldn't have seen RPG's be nearly as popular as they are without his contributions. (Ask any early JRPG developer what their influence was, and they'll almost certainly say Ultima or Wizardry.)

    As far as I'm concerned, the man has earned the right to spend his money following his dream, and if I were in his shoes, I'd do the same in a heartbeat.

  • wayanbros

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:53 am PT

    I'm pretty sure they have training and medical tests. They want at least competent rich fools on the space station.

  • dieing_heart

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:47 am PT

    That makes me kind of paranoid...an incredibly rich man, funded by an incredibly rich company is storing DNA in space just in case something may happen?

  • Timstuff

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:38 am PT

    Virgin's Galaxy air lines are going to be way more economical. You can go into space for a couple hours for $400,000, or you can go into space for 12 days for $30,000,000 and puke every couple hours because you've had no formal astronaut training.

  • jazilla

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:32 am PT

    LOL, I wouldn't exactly categorize Stephen Colbert and Tabula Raza contest winners as, "leading citizens." That is one of the more hilarious things I have seen on this site. Stephen Hawking is an amazing man, but sending Garriot into space for 30 million is a joke in the highest order.

  • Droogie_1

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:30 am PT

    why, gamespot, do you link to a 2004 story of armadillo aerospace's rocket malfunction every time a story like this comes out? armadillo aerospace is actually a profitble company now and they have been likely favorites to win a few of the x-prize catagories. in other words...carmack is doing some damned fine work over there. stop linking an early company failure every time you mention space. it doesnt look good...

  • masterclone

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:22 am PT

    " ptown58

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 4:57 pm CET

    Hey Dick you should spend that 30m helping people, na I'll waste it on going into space instead..it will bring me so much inner peace. "Have no fear for atomic energy,
    'Cause none of them can stop the time." "

    It's his money, he can do whatever he wants with them. If you earn $30 mil then you can help the poor or whatever you want to do.

  • ff7cloudking

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:16 am PT

    When do I get to go to space?

  • jer_1 posted Oct 13, 2008 9:15 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    jer_1

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:15 am PT (hide)

    Waste O money.

  • Seram

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:13 am PT

    It would be so amazing to go into space. Definitely worth the 30 million.

  • N-REAL

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 9:04 am PT

    I would pay 100$ million for going into space......if I had the cash of course.....

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