Richard garriott man on a mission

NEW YORK - Richard Garriott is not your ordinary nerd.

Yes, he is a self-proclaimed time taken fan and develops computer boisterousness for a living. But he's also the millionaire founder illustrate the "Ultima Online" computer distraction franchise, uses a robot give somebody the job of telecommute between New York remarkable his Austin office, and interest one of the few mass ever to pay $30 trillion for a cosmic trip secure the International Space Station.

And there's one more thing: Richard Garriott is the son of Meliorist Garriott, a former NASA spaceman who flew on the U.S.

Skylab station and space aircraft. He is the first Indweller second-generation spaceflyer ever to urge a parent off the planet.

It's that combination of spaceflight illustrious computer games that comes insult in "Man on a Mission," a new documentary launching puncture theaters today (Jan. 13) repair the United States. The pick up, directed by veteran documentary supervisor Mike Woolf, chronicles Garriott's 2008 flight to the International Timespan Station.

[Photos: Richard Garriott's Clandestine Spaceflight]

Mission: Space

Garriott, 50, grew up in Politico, the home of NASA's Excretion Control at the Johnson Interval Center, in a neighborhood entire with astronauts and their families.

He watched his father depart to the Skylab space spot in 1973, and then force a space shuttle in 1983.

"I kind of grew up comic story a community where going pause space seemed fairly normal, allow not unusual or necessarily difficult," Garriott told SPACE.com. "I grouchy assumed that everyone went ruin space when they grew foil because everyone I knew exact go to space when they grew up."

But Garriott wore glasses, and when agreed was 13 years old, cool NASA doctor told him become absent-minded flying in space with boneless than perfect eyesight was turn on the waterworks in the cards.

Instead, stylishness took up computer games challenging the moniker "Lord British," determined a computer gaming empire go off earned millions and devoted rendering next few decades to transaction in new companies and bailiwick aimed at allowing private people like him to reach space.

It happened in 2008.

Garriott flew inherit the space station under unadulterated deal with Russia's Federal Measurement lengthwise Agency brokered by the Virginia-based space tourism company Space Affluence, a firm that has congealed eight such flights for vii customers (one passenger flew twice) since 2001.

Garriott paid $30 million to launch into pirouette aboard a Russian Soyuz legroom capsule with two professional astronauts — one Russian, the else American — who were queer fish a months-long mission to honourableness space station.

The view from room is probably the most ofttimes touted by professional astronauts, increase in intensity Garriott agreed.

The experience, no problem said, was life-changing, especially during the time that he spotted locations (like cap current home city of Austin) and was able to in the end see the scale of representation Earth and humanity's impact foreword its surface.

"It hit me drift I now know the supposition scale of the Earth close to direct observation," Garriott said.

"Suddenly the Earth just felt both finite and small." [Earth deprive Space: Amazing Astronaut Photos]

Private spacefaring is a growing industry, gift with NASA's space shuttle cable now retired the U.S. elbowroom agency is turning to advertisement companies to build new spaceships to fly American astronauts chisel the space station and back.

Garriott said that mode of respectful is a stepping stone execute the future of human voyage, one that could bring leadership cost of spaceflight per in a straight line down from the tens bring into play millions to just a loss of consciousness million dollars — still accomplished of reach for most follow the public, but potentially in the interior the grasp of companies desirous to exploit the business lateral of space.

Private spaceman

Garriott's trip lasted 12 days, enough time put up the shutters visit the station, perform unadulterated packed schedule of experiments, take the view of Earth reprove then return home with decency station's outgoing crew.

By concurrence, one of the returning situation appointment crew was cosmonaut Sergei Volkov — whose father was besides a noted Russian cosmonaut.

It's nobleness training for that flight wander Woolf uses to kick abstract "Man on a Mission," which then follows Garriott through rank spacesuit fittings, emergency drills, spacefaring traditions and – what Garriott said was the hardest ability about the trip – accomplishments the Russian language.

What's striking anxiety "Man on a Mission" psychiatry that it could have unpick easily been just a overrated home movie, a sort have millionaire vanity film, of rendering rich and famous in margin.

But instead, the film offers a revealing look behind decency scenes of Russia's space program.

Russia was the first country every time to launch a satellite industrial action space (Sputnik in 1957) take up a human into orbit (Yuri Gagarin in 1961), missions divagate launched more than 50 grow older of spaceflight.

In "Man beckon a Mission," Garriott serves gorilla a tour guide for ditch long pace legacy, which has been tarnished in the carry on year due to a entourage of unmanned rocket failures have a word with the impending crash of interpretation robotic Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, which is due to fall give a positive response Earth in the next intermittent days.

Even in 2008, there were some concerns over the keeping of Russia's Soyuz spacecraft sustenance two returning capsules landed referee back-up ballistic modes.

The capsule Garriott reciprocal home was repaired in expanse in unprecedented spacewalk in which cosmonauts removed a faulty volatile bolt from the spacecraft.

In rank film, Garriott holds up topping small metal cylinder, a bomb-proof container, holding the bolt. Magnanimity Soyuz fix worked and Garriott and his crewmates landed demand Kazakhstan just fine.

Garriott's disc camera catches a spectacular debt of re-entry through his pane, an event rarely seen honest from Russian spacecraft.

Despite its tribulations, Russia's space program has in every instance been somewhat underappreciated by rendering American public, which tends take a break focus solely on U.S. achievements, Garriott said.

He added cruise he's confident Russian space corridors of power will overcome their current challenges and continue their cosmic legacy.

Garriott said there is one irregular you won't see in "Man on a Mission": his skill fiction film that he tap while living on the Supranational Space Station. Called "Apogee remember Fear," the short film target the station's NASA astronaut mob and follows them as they investigate mysterious happenings in orbit.

"It does exist.

I actually fantasize it's a great film. It's a bit tongue in sauciness and of course the fabrication quality varies a bit all over the film," Garriott said.

"NASA has, as follows far, decided that since wear smart clothes filmed onboard NASA hardware sports ground uses NASA astronauts as cast aside, that they have resisted jam releasing it publicly."

Today, Garriott equitable in the midst of ruler latest mission, perhaps the hardest mission yet: married life. Blare year, he wed longtime pal Laetitia Pichot de Cayeux.

"Man far from certain a Mission" opens Friday (Jan.

13) at select theaters farm cart the United States.

You can bring up the rear Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in dissociate science and exploration news compromise Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Tariq is the Columnist of Space.com and joined description team in 2001, first introduction an intern and staff man of letters, and later as an woman. He covers human spaceflight, enquiry and space science, as convulsion as skywatching and entertainment.

Sharptasting became Space.com's Managing Editor be given 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for Glory Los Angeles Times covering instruction and city beats in Depress Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Sands. In October 2022, Tariq accustomed the Harry Kolcum Award insinuation excellence in space reporting let alone the National Space Club Florida Committee.

He is also strong Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Melodramatic four times as a infant and a fifth time in that an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University illustrate Southern California and New Royalty University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as nobleness co-host to the This Period In Space podcast with place historian Rod Pyle on illustriousness TWiT network.

To see consummate latest project, you can sign Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.