Lord British Plans Space Expedition

Ultima creator and Origin Systems co-founder Richard Garriott expects his next project to take off--literally.

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Ultima creator and Origin Systems co-founder Richard Garriott (pictured left) expects his next project to take off--literally. The 46-year old game developer, who most recently helmed the development of Destination Games' Tabula Rasa (PC) and often goes by the alias of Lord British, hopes to follow in the footsteps of his astronaut father and embark on a journey to outer space.

By teaming with Space Adventures, the self-described "leading space experiences company," Garriott blasts off in October 2008. The interstellar adventure of his "'commercially active' mission" will take him to the International Space Station, where he will work with his father's company, ExtremoZyme, on protein crystallization experiments. Space Adventures and Garriott are currently looking for other research and commercial partners.

Garriott made headlines earlier this year in a completely unrelated incident, which saw his property in Austin infiltrated by group of nine or more trespassers and robbed of more than $5,000 in alcohol. The robbers, presumably accidentally, left behind a digital camera detailing their exploits.

"I am dedicating my spaceflight to science," pledged Garriott. "I understand the necessity for conducting research in extreme environments whether it is collecting microorganisms from deep sea hydrothermal vents to carrying out experiments in the continuous micro-gravity of Earth orbit...We need to be adventurous in mind and stimulate our intellects to answer today's most daunting scientific questions and to invent tomorrow's technological marvels."

Throughout the next year, Garriott will be providing frequent updates on his status and that of his mission through richardinspace.com, which is advertising corporate sponsorship opportunities.

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 28, 2007 8:58 AM

    That headshot rocks so hard.

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      September 28, 2007 9:43 AM

      He -really- looks like Tom Green right there

    • reply
      September 28, 2007 10:24 AM

      If it featured his rat tail it would be 110%. Still amazing photo.

    • reply
      September 28, 2007 10:45 AM

      Why aren't the new headshots being added to the actual gallery of headshots from oldshack?

      • reply
        September 28, 2007 11:49 AM

        The old gallery of headshots transferred over kinda weird, you have to manually change the page number in the address and all the thumbnails are way stretched. It will live again, somehow, in the future.

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