You can’t put a price on a dream
Published 27 October, 2008, 17:17
Space tourist Richard Garriott, whose father, Owen, was an American astronaut, says he is thankful to NASA medics, who strengthened his wish to go into space – regardless of their ban.
For all three men this was their first ever flight. The sixth ever tourist said the whole adventure exceeded his expectations, and one thing impressed him most of all.
“My biggest impression of the launch of the Soyuz TMA-13 was that it was like a beautiful ballet, strong and confident but elegant,” said Garriott.
Representatives of the first two space dynasties were sharing the same capsule. Russia's Sergey Volkov and Richard Garriot are the respective sons of a Russian Cosmonaut and a NASA astronaut.
Ever since he was a child, Garriott was eager to follow in his father’s footsteps. But his poor eyesight failed him.
“When I was a teenager, the medical group at NASA told me that my poor eyesight would prevent me from becoming a government astronaut,” said Garriott. “At that time it was like being told that I was not eligible to be a member of the club that everyone I knew was a member of. I reacted to it by deciding, at a young age, that I was going to change the rules and to help advance and bring into existence civilian spacecraft.”
Garriott even had an operation to improve his eyesight. However, NASA rules still prevent such people from going into space.
Despite all the difficulties the man found a way to carry on his father’s work in more ways than one. He took photos of the same 500 targets on the Earth’s surface to see how they've changed over thirty years.
Garriott returned to Earth on October 24, together with the 17th mission to the International Space Station, where he had spent ten days, and he says he's planning to go up again
For this short stay he paid $US 30 million, which is a significant part of his fortune. Garriott says, though, that the experience and the fulfilment of a child dream are worth the money.
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