Lord British In Space...With Steven Hawking...Mothership Approaching Earth
I knew that Stephen Hawking got a ride recently on the zero-g parabolic flier nicknamed "the Vomit Comit," and it was supremely awesome to hear his account of being free from the prison of his paralyzed body and wheelchair for the first time in decades, and even cooler to hear his reason for doing so - to promote awareness and interest in space travel as the only hope for long-term survival of the human race. We gotta make babies on other planets, y'all!
What I did not know was that the same flight that let the most influential scientific mind alive today fly like a bird also let NCsoft Executive Producer and Ultima demigod Richard Garriott, AKA Lord British, came along for the ride as well.
Was it research for his upcoming epic SciFi MMORPH, Tabula Rasa, or a mere coincidence? Or, even better, are Hawking and Garriott in communication with our future alien overlords? And Can Will Wright save us before the Tinyzoids of Tinytooine use us as hosts for their space-roe?
Make the jump to find out!
NCsoft's Richard Garriott Reaches For The Stars
NCsoft Executive Producer Richard Garriott Joins Stephen Hawking On Zero-G Vomit Comet
Thursday 3rd May/...Legendary video game developer Richard Garriott, Executive Producer at Destination Games and NCsoft, joined world-renowned astrophysicist Professor Stephen Hawking on a converted aeroplane nicknamed the Vomit Comet to experience zero gravity at the edge of space.
Garriott joined Hawking, his entourage of assistants and roughly 25 other passengers on the converted Boeing 727 as it ascended to 25,000 feet from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and proceeded to carve gigantic parabolic arcs in the sky. The plane, which is usually reserved for trainee astronauts, unshackled the passengers from gravity for approximately 25 seconds at a time by executing a series of climbs at 45 degrees and dips at 30 degrees.
This was the fourth trip to the edge of space for Garriott, who is an investor in Zero Gravity Corp – the company that operates the Vomit Comet experience. The journey was regarded as a huge success and upon returning to terra firma, Garriott posted an online account of his experience:
www.playtr.com/news/archives/2007/04/richard_garriot_6.html
Garriott is currently working on the epic sci-fi RPG, Tabula Rasa – a massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore lush forest planets, volcanic moons, and exotic alien civilizations, to face off against powerful alien soldiers, armoured mechanoids, and vicious predators. Tabula Rasa combines a vast, persistent game world and ongoing storyline with fast-paced action, resulting in a striking new approach to the design of multiplayer online games.
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany on 3 May 2007
