Here's Richard Garriott on a recent Austin ZEROG flight

Fellow Austinite Richard Garriott talks more in the December issue of PC Gamer about his upcoming trip to space:

I grew up with an astronaut father, and space has been my pinnacle interest since I was young.... the probability of me going [to space] the same way my dad did was zero....

Since earning my earliest profits in the games industry, I have been investing in privatizing space....

Here's how he enabled Dennis Tito to get into space with his investment in Space Adventures.

I am also involved in Zero G, which has given me a taste of what I might experience in space. Zero G uses a modified Boeing 727 to take people on parabolic flights into microgravity. Anyone can book these flights and I tell you, it will change your life. People get giddy on these flights; they experience true happiness and living in the moment. I enjoy these flights so much that I recently chartered four of them to help promote the release of my space epic MMPORG Tabula Rasa. And my experience on them solidified my desire to get private citizens into space as well--even those without bazillions of dollars.

... I am lucky enough to be able to go into space myself through our work with the Russian Government! Earlier this month, we announced that I will be going into space as the seventh private space explorer, and the first second-generation astronaut, next year. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. But I'm still my father's son[;] I will be part of a team conducting experiments and bringing back new knowledge and data concentrating in four areas: commercial, educational, environmental, and artistic. This isn't just a joy ride for me; it's something I need to do.

Amen on the ZEROG flights.

There's a little more in his trip-to-space blog.

Now, keep in mind that I'm a guy who doesn't get fluttered by meeting famous folks. I was a roadie for bands, I've known more than a few political types. People are people. The only person I ever got flustered around was when I went to work for Origin systems and met Richard Garriott for the first time.

The man is a genuis. Possibly nuts, but only in the coolest sense of the term. He lives in a castle, and has the freedom to indulge his dreams. Classic American story.

He is, BTW, also the owner of the moon thanks to a sale of some Russian eqipment they left behind, but that's another story.

History will do a double-take if computer geeks end up changing the world twice in two different fields.

First, they changed the world by creating the computer revolution. Second, many of them have taken the fortunes they made and invested them space travel.

If their effort in space provide the seed for the future development of space, future generations will wonder how so few people could change the world so much.

Hmmm.

No offense to anyone but why am I not overly pleased by the continued use of the ISS by the Russians as a Motel 8 in space?

We spent $100+ billion on the ISS so far. What the hell has it accomplished? Well other than earn the Russians $140 million for space tourism.

I love space and I love the idea of space tourism. What I don't love is ISS and so far I have yet to find anything that justifies it's building or it's continued support.

Read here about exponential improvements in Telescope power, and implications for new discoveries.

The ISS is what happens when you give responsibility for building the world's space station to the world's bureaucrats. The stupid countries (US etc) pays for it and the unscrupulous countries (Russia etc) sleaze off it.

A lot of people want to hand the world's 100 trillion dollar economy over to a similar bureaucracy--the IPCC. If you like how the ISS turned out, you're going to love how the world's brave new economy ends up.