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Space Science

Soyuz With Richard Garriott Successfully Launched 56

Posted by Soulskill from the lord-british-in-space dept.
Toren Altair writes "Soyuz TMA-13 with ISS Expedition Crew 18 and Richard Garriott successfully launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:01 UT (3:01 EDT). The Soyuz capsule will dock to the ISS in two days. Garriott will return to Earth with Expedition 17 crew members, Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko on October 23." With the extra attention on this launch, the Russians have gone out of their way to say that the return of the Soyuz vehicle will be safe, after a couple of different malfunctions in the past year. Garriott is in space partly for recreation, and partly as a promotion for his latest MMO, Tabula Rasa. He took with him a hard drive filled with information about humanity, as well as DNA sequences from Tabula Rasa players and various celebrities (including Stephen Colbert and Stephen Hawking) to 'preserve' that data in case of a disaster on Earth. Garriott will also spend time running and participating in experiments. Coverage of the Soyuz mission is ongoing at NASATV.
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Soyuz With Richard Garriott Successfully Launched More

Soyuz With Richard Garriott Successfully Launched

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  • Tabula Rasa (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 12, 2008 @08:41AM (#25345187)

    If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend checking out Tabula Rasa [amazon.com] . It's one of the better RPGs set in space, and I like how it has adopted ideas from science fiction writers like Vinge. Going into space seems a great way to support it, but it's a pity that the mass media now considers human spaceflight so meh that even a freakin' computer game legend going into orbit won't win too much attention for the game.

    • Big media will care when he kills a Kilrathi and brings back the head. And even that won't forgive the sin of selling Origin to EA.

    • Re:Tabula Rasa (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Kagura ( 843695 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @09:36AM (#25345357)
      Review of Tabula Rasa by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw [escapistmagazine.com]. Don't worry, he's British, too. ;) You have to click the movie to start the review. He's a very humorous reviewer with a great style, and he's got a thing for Richard Garriott that makes this video closer to "on-topic" than off-.

    • If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend checking out Tabula Rasa . It's one of the better RPGs set in space, and I like how it has adopted ideas from science fiction writers like Vinge. Going into space seems a great way to support it, but it's a pity that the mass media now considers human spaceflight so meh that even a freakin' computer game legend going into orbit won't win too much attention for the game.

      Tabula Rasa was absolute crap. I played the beta and the release. The last decent games Lord Br

  • Don't forget the SSTV! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Gordonjcp ( 186804 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @08:55AM (#25345219) Homepage

    From October 14, Richard Garriot will be sending back SSTV images [wikipedia.org] from the ISS. Today they're planning to test some of the equipment currently on the ISS by sending SSTV between 1800UTC and 2100UTC. Unfortunately there won't be any usable passes over where I live before 1800, but I'll still be listening on 145.800MHz just in case...

    If you're interested in trying to receive images or other radio transmissions from the ISS, you can get information on its passes from Heavens Above [heavens-above.com] or by using prediction software like gpredict. You may find you need a larger antenna than the "rubber duck" that most scanners and handheld radios come with, but if you're far enough south to get a good high pass you might manage to hear it. For receiving SSTV you'll need some sort of gain antenna like a Yagi, really. In Linux, you can use qsstv for decoding the SSTV images.

  • Finally (Score:2, Funny)

    by meist3r ( 1061628 )
    the Ultima Online community got it's petition through and shot him to the moon. I never played any Ultima game back then but I want his house, probably for sale by now.

  • Woohooo, finally! (Score:5, Funny)

    by El_Muerte_TDS ( 592157 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @09:06AM (#25345247) Homepage

    Wait, what do you mean "Garriott will return to Earth"?

  • so the father, so the son (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SensiMillia ( 217366 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @09:10AM (#25345265)

    On a side note,
    Richard Garriot, apart from being a successful video game writer, is in fact the son of a former NASA astronaut. [timesonline.co.uk]

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by moosesocks ( 264553 )

      Does anyone else know if this is the first time that such a "space dynasty" has occurred?

      Have there been any other cases of descendants, siblings, spouses, etc.... both going into space?

      No real reason for asking... just kinda cool.

  • What about the toilet? (Score:4, Funny)

    by John Hasler ( 414242 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @09:14AM (#25345271) Homepage

    He took with him a hard drive filled with information about humanity...

    Yes, but did he take along any parts for the toilet?

  • The first step to beating Minax (Score:4, Funny)

    by schmidt349 ( 690948 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @09:17AM (#25345295)
    Baikonur? I figured he'd blast off from Pirate's Harbor! [wikia.com] I hope his Power Armor's in good condition also, or he'll never get the ring from the old man on Planet X.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Spoilers above for those who haven't finished Ultima ][ yet.

  • Ganking on the ISS (Score:3, Funny)

    by Liquidrage ( 640463 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @09:46AM (#25345407)
    They don't know what they're in for.

    The last thing they'll hear before they are mercilessly ganked is "corp por corp por".

  • Sanity on the planet. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rog7 ( 182880 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @10:44AM (#25345679)

    By my definition, this makes Richard Garriott the most sane man on the planet, literally by escaping it for a short time.

    For years, I've been baffled by the rat race millionaires and billionaires who seem to do nothing with their copious amounts of cash than collect more of it. It isn't sane IMHO unless you do something big and spectacular with that amount of excess. At most, some of them retire and give a portion to charity (not bad per se, but even then watch them coldly calculate how they dole it out).

    Richard Garriott isn't super rich on a gigantic scale compared to some, but he's always done stuff that others may define as eccentric. Seriously tho, he's more sane than the rest of that upper margin.

    Kudos to him.

    • I don't understand how so many otherwise-darwin-minded slashdotters seem to miss the point of this behavior. It makes perfect sense that to ensure the success of your bloodline, you'll want to do more than just get a nice country estate and a few toys to play with.

      You'll want to found a dynasty. You'll want to make sure that your offspring for generations to come are financially secure. You might want your family to become one of the public members of the new nobility, like the Rockefellers or the Warburg

      • Actually Warren Buffett is giving away most if not all his money, shutting out his kids from a lot of it.

        He also still drives his 57 Chevy.

    • Id rather not see crazy "grandiose" things like Imelda Marcos 1,000 shoes or Hugh Hefner's absurd mansion. A lot of wealthy people live the life they want and give a lot to charities. You dont hear about much of it because they dont want you to.

      Most wealthy people continue operating more businesses and helping startups which provides new industries, new innovation, and new employment. Some put money into bank investments which help make loans be cheap and affordable.

      Real life isnt a jame bond novel where t

  • Good for him (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bunderfeld ( 1113805 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @10:50AM (#25345705) Homepage
    I had the pleasure to meet Richard Garriot at E3 a few years ago.

    You would think some bigwig like Mr. Garriot would go out to eat, but no, he was standing in line with the rest of us schmoe's at the cafeteria.

    I didn't even take notice of who was who until someone asked if they could sit at the only empty chair across from me, to which I muttered "whatever" and went on reading my material. When I finally looked up, I was shocked to say the least. The interesting thing was that Mr. Garriot spent the hour and a half talking to me, laughing at his past antics, moaning about all that money he had to spend on his "castle sinking". Even when we were interrupted by the occasional fan asking for his autograph, this man never once got upset or even looked cross.

    I'm not much for meeting a lot of the Game Developer Gods, I've had my share of not-so-good meetings, but I will say "Good for you Richard", reach for the moon, if you miss, you will still be among the stars!
  • "Soyuz With Richard Garriott Successfully Launched "...you say?

    I'm guessing we would have heard if it had been unsuccesfully launched...

  • Huh? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday October 12, 2008 @11:48AM (#25346015)

    He took with him a hard drive filled with information about humanity, as well as DNA sequences from Tabula Rasa players and various celebrities (including Stephen Colbert and Stephen Hawking) to 'preserve' that data in case of a disaster on Earth.

    Okay, I understand the concept of "publicity stunt", however...

    What exactly is having this material a couple hundred miles above the planet supposed to accomplish, exactly? In case of a disaster on the Earth, was he thinking he'd do a spacewalk and try to throw it in a direction away from Earth? Good luck generating escape velocity that way, buddy.

    Or did he think this planet-wide disaster would be over quickly, leaving an Earth-side genetics lab intact so he could return to Earth safely and somehow recreate a new race to be known as The Nerdlings? Tabula Rasa players, yeah that's the building blocks of an advanced civilization...

  • Somehow I always thought you would get into space shot through a space cannon ala Martian Dreams. I guess a soyuz is the next best thing.

  • Is a magnetic hard drive really the best media format to leave in space in case our current society is destroyed? Are cosmic rays and other radiation a concern?

    I suppose if society rebuilt enough to launch into space again, then the format of the data might not matter.

  • Is it just me or is NASATV broken on Linux?

  • Vas Ort Flam
    Corp Por
    Corp Por

    That's for selling Origin to EA, which then created Trammel.
    DogMeat [MoO] Mayor of Oberon Pass, Chesapeake

    Jonah HEX

  • Word is he'll be coming back down after he lands on the moon.

    Via a moongate.

  • Project "B Ark" is now complete.

  • Scene at the Soyuz Space Center take-in desk:

    - So Mr. eh Garriott is it ? Why exactly do you want to go to the ISS ? The form says 'reasons for visit' you see, and I have to fill it in.
    - Oh. Eh, isn't just for fun enough ? I thought that these days it was well accepted that if you were loaded enough, you could just hitch a ride ?
    - 'recreational purposes'. Ok.
    - On the other hand, wait - I see what you mean. It looks kind of decadent, doesn't it ? So eh, could you make it 'promotion of my new product'

  • By going into every Ultima game this weekend where you can kill Lord British and doing so. No I'm not jealous. not me :)

    My favorites were Ultima III by blasting him with the ships cannons and Ultima VII, sucking out his soul with a demon sword.

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