In case you didn't know, Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima computer games and Tabula Rasa, is going into space at 3:00am Eastern Time. As part of "Expedition 18," he'll be going up in a Soyuz rocket (which is sort of like the "classic rockets" used by the US before switching tot he Space Shuttle). Richard will be staying on the International Space Station for a few days before he comes back down.

Richard's father Owen K. Garriott, was an astronaut as well, making Richard the first second-generation American to ever go into space. (The first second-generation person ever is only beating him by one flight—the one before Richard's. That other guy will be leaving the ISS as Richard gets there.)

There's a bunch of details and blog entries on the Richard in Space site: www.richardinspace.com/. The launch will be covered on NASA TV. Richard's site has an embedded display, but I think the same thing is being shown at www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/.

You can track the ISS at www.n2yo.com/. Windows on Earth lets you see the part of the Earth that can be seen from the ISS at winearth.terc.edu/appISSFlight/index.html

Richard's a great guy and I wish him all the best in his trip. Also, I'm so jealous!

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