Gizmodo: richard garriott

Gaming Mogul Space Tourist Richard Garriott Back On Earth

John Herrman — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:08:40 EDT

We've traced Garriott's dream journey to space from his eight months of training in Russia's Star City to his climactic orbital toilet repair endeavors just last week, but at 7:34 Moscow Time (10:34 EST) our favorite space tourist's trip came to its inevitable end. Garriott is now safely on the ground in Kazakhstan after just ten days in space, most of which he spent on the ISS, floatin' around with some cosmonauts. He hasn't had a chance to talk about his experience yet, but what is there to say? "Ha ha, I went into space, losers!" wouldn't be the classiest reintroduction to Earth, but it would sum things up quite nicely. [Yahoo News]

Richard Garriott Arrives at ISS, Reportedly Ready to Fix the Toilet

John Herrman — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:59:27 EDT

The Soyuz TMA-13, carrying computer game rich guy, son of an astronaut, and current space tourist Richard Garriott has successfully docked with the International Space Station as of 8:26 GMT (3:26 EST). The three-man crew just finished floating around in orbit for a few days, and are now commencing their scheduled missions. For the two astronauts, that means spending six months building new life support equipment for future crews; for Garriott, that means ten days of floating around, giggling and getting sick on piles of freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream.

He'll also be carrying out some scientific duties, photographing the earth's surface to compare to pictures taken nearly 40 years ago by his father. Whether they'll be able to fix their most pressing problem — a broken toilet — will be apparent in a few days. Garriott's crew will be installing a second facility and repairing the first, which has performed sporadically over the last few months. It remains to be seen whether or not game design skills transfer to zero-gravity toilet repair, but if not the results could be spectacular. [BBC]

Richard Garriott Reaches Orbit, Can Finally Act Out Plot of Tabula Rasa

Jack Loftus — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Computer game millionaire Richard Garriott is now in orbit. At about 3 a.m., the current luckiest geek in the world blasted off in a Soyuz TMA-13 capsule alongside U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov. The three will circle the Earth a few times before docking with the International Space Station on Tuesday. At that time, Garriott will conduct a series of experiments that will probably not include level grinding in his sci-fi MMORPG, Tabula Rasa. One thing Garriott and company may not be able to do when they reach the ISS? Go to the bathroom. Update: Now with video:

This is because the $19 million toilet (?!) isn't sucking up waste like it's supposed to—just as it wasn't doing a few months ago. A replacement pooper isn't scheduled to arrive until November.

Frankly, we don't know what's worse this morning: The fact that a white-knuckle ballistic re-entry could be in Garriott's future (as it was for Soyuz capsule cosmonauts over the past few years); or that floating, zero-G space poo could turn his once-in-a-lifetime journey into the world's worst obstacle course.

[AP, MSNBC]

Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk Watch Brings Out Your Inner Space Cowboy

AddyDugdale — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Just 100 of Seiko's Spring Drive Spacewalk watches, space-proof wristwatches being developed with a little help from the Russian Federal Space Agency, are expected to be made. Designed for Richard Garriott, the video-game honcho-turned-future space tourist, the titanium-encased timepiece weighs just 92.5 grams and is airtight, and waterproof to 100 meters. Seiko has developed a new luminescent material so that Richard will be able to see if it's teatime yet on the International Space Station, and it has large control buttons so that he doesn't have to take his space gloves off to adjust the time. Full specs are below.

Spring Drive 5R86 movement for accuracy under the extreme temperature swings of space (-20° to +70° Celsius, or about -4° to 160° Fahrenheit).
Titanium case with the sides etched out by a new CNC (computer numerical control) machine that Seiko built in order to help get the weight down to only 92.5 grams.
Completely air-tight case capable of surviving direct exposure to space.
Oversized buttons for use while wearing space gloves.
Domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating.
Waterproof to 100m, or 330ft (in case of a water landing, I guess).
12-hour chronograph.
GMT hand for 24-hour UTC time (which is used in both space and aviation).
New luminescent material that Seiko says is three times as bright as a typical luminescent watch.
A special dial and hand design for maximum readability.

The Spring Drive Spacewalk is expected to be "marketed" in December 2008, and until then we have no idea of the price. Cheaper than a return ticket to Mars, I expect. [Seiko via Watch Report]