Richard Garriott Is Former Student Of Center's Founder

Video game developer Richard Garriott is slated to be the next civilian to fly into space... and he plans to follow the lead of spacegoing teacher Barbara Morgan, through interactive lessons that will motivate and inspire students at Challenger Learning Centers throughout the world.

As ANN has reported, Garriott is the son of NASA Skylab Astronaut Owen Garriott. His flight onboard a Russian Soyuz capsule is currently scheduled for lift-off to the International Space Station on October 12, 2008.

Richard is also former student of Dr. June Scobee Rodgers, the Founding Chairman of Challenger Center for Space Science Education, and widow of STS-51L Commander Dick Scobee. After the tragic loss of the Challenger space shuttle crew in January 1986, Richard worked with Dr. Scobee Rodgers on the design of the first Challenger Learning Center.

"Like father, like son," said Dr. Rodgers, commenting on her former student's plans. "Dr. Owen Garriott also taught student science lessons from space on his Skylab mission, as Richard plans to do on his flight."

There are now over 50 Challenger Learning Centers in the United States, Canada, England and South Korea. Richard aims to continue the mission of Teacher-in-Space Christa McAuliffe, as did Barbara Morgan onboard STS-118, as he delivers activities and challenges from the International Space Station. Garriott's flight activities have the potential to reach children across the globe as he reaches out from the first Challenger Learning Center off the planet.

Garriott plans to spend time before, during and after his flight working with students, teachers and the 50 Challenger Learning Centers located in the United States, England, Canada and South Korea. He plans to conduct a series of interactive webcasts associated with his spaceflight training in Russia; conduct podcasts discussing activities related to both his training and spaceflight; hold amateur ham radio conversations with students during his flight; and perform experiments that can be replicated by students using everyday objects to demonstrate important concepts in physics. Students can predict what might happen during the same experiment in the microgravity (weightless) environment of space.

Richard Garriott’s experiments, webcasts, and podcasts about his flight will be available on the Challenger Center’s national website. Dr. Rodgers also plans to present lessons to students over the web in preparation for Richard Garriott’s flight.

FMI: www.challenger.org, www.spaceadventures.com, www.richardinspace.com