Ultima creator reaches orbit

By thorsen-ink, GameSpotPosted Oct 13, 2008 1:08 am PT

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...

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.

Ultima Online Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Downloads | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum

advertisement
Ultima Online Boxshot
Ultima Online

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement