Space tourist Garriott aboard International Space Station
Richard Garriott, son of astronaut Owen Garriott, is now a member of Expedition 18 to the International Space Station courtesy of the Russian Federal Space Agency, and Space Adventures Ltd.
Garriott, NASA astronaut Michael Fincke, and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov docked at the station Oct. 14, after a Soyuz flight. There are several "firsts" involved.
Garriott is the first son of an astronaut to fly in space. His father, Owen Garriott was one of the first six Scientist-Astronauts selected by NASA in 1965. In 1973 he flew in Skylab, and in 1973 in Spacelab 1. Garriott Senior developed the Ultima computer game series, created Origin Systems, a private video game publisher, and in 2000 formed Destination Games and partnered with NCsoft. His latest game is Tabula Rasa,
Another father-son combination on the station currently is Expedition 17 Commander Sergey Volkov who is the son of veteran cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, who flew three Soyuz missions.
Another first is that NASA astronaut Michael Fincke is the first American to twice fly the Soyuz to the station. Fincke is conversant in Russian and Japanese. He was Expedition 9 Space Station science officer and flight engineer, from April 21 to Oct. 23, 2004. Fincke completed four space walks during that mission. He will serve as commander of the six-month Expedition 18 mission. The mission's main focus will be preparing the station to house six crewmembers on long-duration missions.
Garriott will spend nine days on the station and will complete more than 170 orbits of the Earth. His busy schedule will include a wide range of activities.
Garriott will communicate with students associated with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education via a NASA-sponsored teleconference, two HAM radio downlinks in cooperation with Amateur Radio on the station, and through videotaped experiments that can be replicated on Earth
He will conduct two science experiments designed by primary and secondary students from the United Kingdom in partnership with the British National Space Center.
In cooperation with NASA, Garriott will perform a series of experiments that will study the physical impact of spaceflight on astronauts. He will observe the reaction of the eyes to low and high pressure in a microgravity environment; the effects of spaceflight on the human immune system; and astronauts' sleep/wake patterns and sleep characteristics.
Garriott will photograph a number of ecologically significant places on Earth. These photographs will be compared to shots taken 35 years ago by his father while in space.
In cooperation with the European Space Agency, Garriott will perform a series of experiments that will include the study of early detection of osteoporosis; vestibular adaptation to G-force transitions; and the occurrence of lower back pain.
Garriott will assist the biotechnology company ExtremoZyme, co-founded by Owen Garriott, by conducting Protein Crystal Growth experiments. Seiko has developed the Spring Drive Spacewalk watch, specifically designed for use in space. Richard will use the watch on the ISS, testing it in a microgravity environment.
He will be conducting a physics experiment while on the ISS as part of an initiative sponsored by DHL. The experiment has been designed as an educational contest that will take place at the DHL Innovation Center in Bonn, Germany.
Reportedly, space tourist flights such as this cost the participant $30 million. There is speculation that some of the commercial sponsors for this flight have contributed to its cost.