2nd Generation Spaceman to Make ISS Flight October 2008

NASA Astronaut Owen K. Garriott is pictured in a 1973 spacewalk and his son, Richard, will soon follow in his father's orbit.

Richard Garriott, the son of former NASA Skylab astronaut Owen Garriott who spent 60-days in space on Spacelab-3 in 1973, will launch aborad a Russian Soyuz for a one-week stay at the International Space Station [ISS] in October 2008 at a cost of $30-million to be the sixth space tourist/spaceflight participant.

The Garriott launch will mark the first time in the 50 year Space Age that a child of an American astronaut roars into space. In Russia, a son, Sergey Volkov, is to follow his father Alexander Volkov as a part of the ISS Expedition 17 crew space next spring.

Richard Garriott, now 46 and a University of Texas dropout, developed the "Ultima" series, a very successful computer game franchise, and with his brother, Robert, founded Origin Systems, a computer game developer and publisher. He also co-founded the North American arm of NCsoft, an online game developer and publisher. His newest game, "Tabula Rasa", is due out in October.

The flight will also mark the 100th flight of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft - the Soyuz TMA-13.