by Katarina Cermanova

The U. S. A. is training his first second-generation spaceflyer Richard Garriott, computer game developer, is going to be the first U. S. second-generation spaceflyer. Garriott is going to spend nine days aboard the space station {ISS}. But before launching he has to spend six weeks in Russia to undergo initial medical checks and the first round of training for flight aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Also Garriott has to educate himself in the working of the Soyuz spacecraft and the Russian language. Younger Garriott says that: "This year is definitely where all my priorities and schedules have rotated to where space becomes the top priority and terrestrial activities become secondary." According to his father who will serve as his chief mission scientist, Richard is undertaking a scientific program. He will perform protein crystallization and Earth observation experiments. He hopes to demonstrate that the new generation of private spaceflight explorers can contribute to science in the same way as the previous generation of government astronauts have. Garriott is paying about $30 million for his expedition. He is going to be the sixth paying visitor during his father's mission on the ISS. He is going to launch in the fall 2008 under agreement between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the Virginia-based firm Space Adventures.

by Katarina Cermanova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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