Richard Garriott Man On A Mission
Reaching for the heavens looks pretty easy in MAN ON A MISSION: RICHARD GARRIOTT'S ROAD TO THE STARS. The title character didn't meet the eyesight requirements to train as a NASA astronaut. So he just paid 30 million to the Russian space program, and hopped a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, notes NPR.
Garriott flew to the space station under a deal with Russia's Federal Space Agency brokered by the VIRGINIA-BASED space tourism company Space Adventures, a firm that has arranged eight such flights for seven customers (one passenger flew twice) since 2001. Garriott paid 30 million to launch into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule with two professional astronauts - one Russian, the other American - who were starting a months-long mission to the space station, SPACE.COM with more.