Track Famed Video Game Developer Richard Garriott as He Orbits Earth via www.richardinspace.com

Space Adventures’ Orbital Space Client Is Currently Onboard the International Space Station and Will Return to Earth October 24, 2008

Space Adventures’ sixth orbital client and famed Ultima and Tabula Rasa video game developer Richard Garriott is currently onboard the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting Earth, conducting research and experiments, and helping Stephen Colbert save humanity by depositing his digitized DNA on the “Immortality Drive”

that will serve as a remote offsite backup of the human race. Down on Earth, you can check in on Garriott and track his space mission activities, latest photos and videos, and more by visiting www.richardinspace.com

Garriott is the 1st second generation astronaut and only the sixth private individual in history to go to space. His mission to the ISS is the latest destination in a life defined by adventure and innovation. In recent years, Garriott has conquered incredible quests that span the globe including searching for meteorites on the continent of Antarctica, tracking mountain gorillas in Rwanda, canoeing down the Amazon, deep ocean hydrothermal vent expeditions and dives to the Titanic. While in space, Garriott aims to accomplish numerous efforts including scientific and environmental research, and educational outreach. Always the leader of the pack, Garriott also will host the first-ever zero-gravity art show in space.

All will be chronicled on www.richardinspace.com .

The site is constantly updated with details on Garriott’s adventure and includes rich videos and photos of Garriott throughout his training, launch and current
spaceflight. Visitors to www.richardinspace.com can track his exact location as he orbits Earth; pose questions to Richard , which offers an inside look into what it takes to go to space and back again; and check out awesome video links like Garriott’s ZERO-G weightless training

On Monday, Oct. 20, at 1:20 p.m. EDT, Garriott will be part of the NASA-sponsored videoconference with Expedition Crew 18. The live online video conference with Garriott will be posted on www.richardinspace.com

Poll Results Revealing Humanity’s Greatest Achievements to be Placed on Immortality Drive headed to International Space Station on Sunday

What are the milestones that signify humanity’s most important achievements? From penicillin to George Carlin to The American Civil Rights Movement, thousands have weighed in on an online poll inspired by Tabula Rasa’s Operation Immortality™. Tabula Rasa® is a fast-paced massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that puts you in the middle of an intergalactic fight to save humanity. The results of the polls are among the many digitized items stored on the “Immortality Drive” that will be taken to space by legendary game designer Richard Garriott, who travels to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct.12.

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Renowned physicist to participate in NCsoft’s Operation Immortality, hoping to raise awareness of how disease can be better managed, cured and prevented through fully sequencing the human genome

Stephen Hawking, best selling author of “A Brief History of Time” and the children’s book “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” written along with his daughter Lucy, will be sending his digitized DNA into space as part of NCsoft’s® <http://www.plaync.com/> Operation Immortality™. Lucy Hawking is also participating in the project. Together, the father and daughter are hoping the project will raise awareness of the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, a competition that will award $10 million to the first person or team that can sequence 100 human genomes within 10 days or less.

Operation Immortality <http://www.operationimmortality.com/> is a project intended to collect and archive the very best of what humanity has accomplished by sending a digital time capsule of the human race, including messages from people around the world and DNA samples from some of our brightest minds, musicians, athletes and video game players.

Hawking’s DNA will be transported into space by celebrated video game developer and longtime member of the X PRIZE Foundation’s Board of Trustees, Richard Garriott <http://www.richardinspace.com/> , who is traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) in October. Garriott, whose most recent video game project, Tabula Rasa® <http://www.rgtr.com/> , depicts the destruction of mankind by an alien invasion, will take Hawking’s digitized DNA as well as an electronic copy of “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” on a storage device called the Immortality Drive where it will be placed on the ISS.

This is not the first time Hawking and Garriott have teamed up for high-flying adventures. In 2007, Garriott hosted Hawking aboard a zero gravity flight where Hawking was able to experience a weightless environment.

“Richard and I share the same dream of traveling into space,” said Stephen Hawking. “And we both realize the incredible importance of DNA to life in the universe.”

In actuality, Hawking would like to have sent his completely sequenced genome into space. Current science however, is not yet capable of producing low-cost, fully sequenced genomes. By participating in this project, Hawking hopes to highlight the need for inexpensive, fully sequenced human genomes so that scientists and doctors can begin to better understand ways to identify, treat and prevent disease.

Richard Garriott said, “This is simply one of the most exciting honors of my life. To have Stephen Hawking participate in my space flight project is incredible and it makes this once-in-a-lifetime experience even more meaningful and exciting. If our world did meet an early end, anyone who finds the Immortality Drive will certainly find the best that humanity has to offer.”

The “Immortality Drive,” is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website. Players in Garriott’s latest game, Tabula Rasa, will also have their character information downloaded onto the drive.

Mankind is encouraged to submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, and leave their immortalized message for future generations. A select few may also have their DNA chosen to join Garriott, Hawking and other icons on an out-of-this-world experience, and possibly become the future of mankind.

The Hawking’s book, “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” takes young readers on a rollercoaster ride through the vastness of space. In the midst of this exciting adventure, the book shows the mysteries of physics, science and the Universe with George, his friends next door, and a super-intelligent computer called Cosmos, which can take them to the edge of a black hole and back again. For more information on “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” and Stephen Hawking, go to:
www.hawking.org.uk

Kevin Rose, Robert Scoble and Tim Draper to participate in NCsoft’s Operation Immortality, joining gamers, musicians, athletes and other luminaries

NCsoft’s® Operation Immortality™ has added three of Silicon Valley’s most celebrated minds to the growing list of notable names who are sending their digitized DNA into space. Kevin Rose, creator of the social-bookmarking website Digg, Robert Scoble, one of the world’s most popular tech bloggers and Tim Draper, founder of the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, have agreed to send their DNA to orbit along with celebrated game designer Richard Garriott, who is traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct. 12.

Operation Immortality will collect and archive the very best of what humanity has accomplished by storing a digital time capsule of the human race on the ISS. This includes messages from people around the world along with the digitized DNA samples from some of Earth’s brightest minds, musicians, and athletes. Garriott, who is most famous as the creator of the Ultima® and Tabula Rasa® video games, will transport the time capsule to the ISS on a storage device called the “Immortality Drive.” Garriott will be the world’s sixth private citizen and America’s first second generation astronaut when he makes his voyage in October.

“It is exciting to have Kevin, Tim and Robert join this project and be a part of preserving their accomplishments which have changed our world,” said Garriott. “These three individuals are some of the most creative and innovative minds in Silicon Valley and we are honored to include them as part of our snapshot of humanity in the 21st Century.”

Rose first became well known as an on-air talent and later as a co-host working on TechTV’s popular show The Screen Savers (which later became Attack of the Show! on G4TV). Rose is also well known for his Internet start-ups that he co-founded: Revision3, Pownce and most notably the social-bookmarking website Digg.

Scoble runs FastCompany.tv and interviews tech and business innovators around the world. He is one of the most popular tech bloggers at http://scobleizer.com, which came to prominence during his tenure as a technical evangelist at Microsoft.

Draper is the founder and a managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.  His original suggestion to use “viral marketing” in web-based e-mail to geometrically spread an Internet product to its market was instrumental to the successes of Hotmail and YahooMail, and has been adopted as a standard marketing technique by hundreds of businesses.  His venture capital successes include Skype, Baidu, Glam, Hotmail, Overture and Parametric Technology. He created the DFJ Network with partner venture capital firms to spread entrepreneurship around the globe.

“My hope is that aliens get a hold of my DNA so my clones can spread entrepreneurship to galaxies throughout the universe,” says Mr. Draper.

The “Immortality Drive” is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website. Everyone on Earth is encouraged to submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, and leave their immortalized message for future generations. A select few may also have their DNA chosen to join Garriott, Rose, Scoble, Draper and other notables on an out-of-this-world experience.

Scott Johnson, Olympic gold medalist, three time National Champion, and 2006 Olympic Hall of Fame inductee, has been invited to send his DNA into space as part of NCsoft’s Operation Immortality

Operation Immortality™, a project intended to collect and archive the very best of what humanity has accomplished, is creating a digital time capsule of the human race, including messages from people around the world and DNA samples from some of our brightest minds and most accomplished athletes. Scott Johnson, Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, three-time National Champion and 2006 USA Olympic Hall of Fame inductee, now stands among those who have been asked to participate in Operation Immortality’s mission to preserve the most talented and influential people of our time, and has submitted his DNA to be added to the capsule.

Johnson, represented by 4U Management in Orlando, Florida, is most commonly known for leading the U.S. Men’s Olympic gymnastics team to victory in 1984 in Los Angeles, when he emerged out of nowhere to win the title and help the U.S. win its first gymnastics team medal since the early 1930’s. He then went on to captain the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team in the 1988 games, before retiring later that year.

Now, twenty years later, Scott is once again being recognized by being invited to add his DNA to the “Immortality Drive” and have it placed upon the International Space Station (ISS) when video gaming luminary Richard Garriott makes the exhilarating journey to the ISS on Oct. 12, 2008.
“Participating in Operation Immortality is an incredible privilege,” says Johnson. “Knowing that my DNA will be immortalized for all time and that I have been chosen as one of mankind’s most “accomplished athletes” is truly an honor.”

The “Immortality Drive,” is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website. Players in Garriott’s latest game, Tabula Rasa®, will also have their character information downloaded onto the drive.

“This is your chance to leave your mark,” says Garriott. “I’m thrilled to have Scott Johnson on board with me.”

Mankind is encouraged to submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, and leave their immortalized message for future generations. A select few may also have their DNA chosen to join Garriott, Johnson and other icons on an out-of-this-world experience, and possibly become the future of mankind.

Highest bidder to have digitized DNA stored on International Space Station; Proceeds to benefit Planet Make-Over

NCsoft® announced today that it will auction an opportunity for one person to send their digitized DNA into space on a special Operation Immortality sale on the popular Internet auction site, eBay. The news comes just days after the company announced that an Immortality Drive, a time capsule with the digitized DNA of select video gamers and space aficionados, and a collection of humankind’s greatest achievements, will be carried to the International Space Station (ISS) by famed game designer Richard Garriott on October 12.

The auction can be accessed at the Operation Immortality auction site located at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250282465825. There are two items up for bidding in the auction. The first is a DNA swab kit, which allows users to swab the inside of their cheek and send the sample to a certified testing lab, which will provide a digitized version of the purchaser’s DNA to be placed on the special Immortality Drive. Garriott will leave the drive on the ISS prior to his return to Earth.

Players can be immortalized in Garriott’s latest game, Tabula Rasa® with the second item in the auction package, a character in Tabula Rasa to be named after the winner. Anyone who isn’t already playing the game can access a free trial at http://www.rgtr.com/trial.

The auction is currently open and will close on August 20.
The proceeds from the auction will benefit Planet Make-Over’s non-profit Arts Endowment via the Nobelity Project. Planet Make-Over is company based in Austin, Texas with a mission to reverse the effects of global warming. The funds will provide financial support and guidance to performing artists who evangelize Planet Make-Over’s efforts to reverse global warming. On August 12, NCsoft announced that recording artists Eric Johnson, Patrice Pike, and musical director Stephen Bruton in association with Planet Make-Over will be participating in NCsoft’s Operation Immortality and sending their DNA into space via the Immortality Drive.

For information about Operation Immortality, including full terms and conditions, go to http://www.OperationImmortality.com. For information on Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa go to http://www.rgtr.com.

Tracy Hickman, famed author of the best-selling fantasy fiction series Dragonlance plans to send his DNA into space as part of NCsoft’s Operation Immortality.

Operation Importality

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Operation Immortality, the project to create a digital time capsule of the human race, has joined forces with famed author and game designer Tracy Hickman.  Hickman is best known for his work on the Dragonlance novels and the innovative Ravenloft module of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game system. As part of Operation Immortality’s mission to preserve the most talented and influential people of our time, Tracy Hickman will be sending his digitized DNA into space with video gaming luminary Richard Garriott as he travels to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct. 12, 2008.

Hickman will not only be adding his digitized DNA to the “Immortality Drive,” excerpts of his writings will also be included on the storage device Garriott will store on the ISS as part of Operation Immortality.  The Immortality Drive is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website. Hickman will be talking about the project as he addresses crowds at the Gen Con gaming convention today in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Visitors to the website can submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, leave their immortalized message for future generations, and may even have their DNA selected to join Garriott and other luminaries on an out of this world trip to possibly become the future of mankind.

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NCsoft’s Operation Immortality and world-renowned pro wrestler team up to send genetic fingerprint to International Space Station

Matt Morgan, known as “Beast” on television’s American Gladiators and a professional wrestling star for Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling, has signed on to have his DNA sequenced and digitized and sent to the International Space Station (ISS) with gaming legend Richard Garriott in October. Garriott will take DNA samples from select individuals on the “Immortality Drive,” a storage device that he’ll leave on the ISS as part of NCsoft’s® Operation Immortality™ and Garriott’s latest game, Tabula Rasa®.

Morgan, who stands seven feet tall and weighs 320 pounds, has been described as “the most genetically-jacked, athletically stacked giant in the world.” Early in his career and still today, Matt Morgan was given the name of “The Blue Print.” He earned this name because some believe that Morgan is not just considered the “Blue Print” for how big men will be portrayed in wrestling in the future, but also because he is a “Blue Print” for the paradigm of human genetics and physical potential.

“I think the concept of Operation Immortality is incredibly exciting,” said Morgan. “I’ve done a lot of interesting things in my life, but this certainly ranks up there as the most unique. I’m honored to be included on the Immortality Drive and look forward to being part of Richard Garriott’s fascinating trip to the ISS.” (more…)

Planet Make-Over’s Musical Director Stephen Bruton selects Eric Johnson and Patrice Pike to join him in NCsoft’s Operation Immortality to reverse Global Warming

Operation Immortality™, the project to create a digital time capsule of the human race, has joined forces with Planet Make-Over, an entertainment driven social network designed to demonstrably reverse the effects of Global Warming. This alliance aims to unite and mobilize the worldwide gaming community with Planet Make-Over’s mission by sending the digitized DNA of rock stars Eric Johnson, Patrice Pike and Planet Make-Over’s Musical Director, Stephen Bruton into space with video gaming luminary Richard Garriott as he travels to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct. 12, 2008.

Johnson, Pike and Bruton, avid supporters of Planet Make-Over, will be adding their digitized DNA as well as their influences, instruments of choice, and examples of their work, to the “Immortality Drive,” a storage device which Garriott will store on the ISS as part of Operation Immortality.  The Immortality Drive is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website. 

Visitors to the website can submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, leave their immortalized message for future generations, and may even have their DNA selected to join the rock stars on an out of this world trip to possibly become the future of mankind.

Garriott is a game developer at NCsoft and creator of the Ultima series of games and the recently released Tabula Rasa®. The goal of Operation Immortality is to have a space-borne record of human DNA and a record of humanity’s achievements in the event a global calamity dooms the human species, like what happens in the Tabula Rasa video game.

Planet Make-Over and Operation Immortality have a shared goal of the preservation of the human species, and both believe that the power of online social networking is crucial to uniting the world towards taking action; Garriott has millions of
loyal online gaming fans demonstrating the proof of this power. Garriott’s visit to space is an attractive platform for Johnson, Pike and Bruton to bring attention to Planet Make-Over’s strategy to reverse the effects of global warming through music, fun, and social networking.

“The Concept of Operation Immortality is much more than a theme to an online game. The Earth’s population needs to quickly adjust our behavior regarding global warming or else fiction quickly becomes our new reality. When we learned that Richard Garriott will be conducting environmental research while in space, the stars all aligned to support him,” said Gary Fortin, creator and executive producer of Planet Make-Over. “Planet Make-Over is about saving the planet. The message is serious but the process can, and should be fun.”

“I know first hand the power that music has to unite people, and I know that Global Warming poses a serious and pending threat to humanity,” said Eric Johnson. “The first step is to come together and collectively change our daily habits or Operation Immortality becomes way too real; this is the serious part. The fun part is involving musicians, their DNA, schematics of Fender guitars, and a record of Planet Make-Over’s strategy as part of Operation Immortality to set an historical benchmark of the moment the planet took action to reverse this threat to humanity.”

“I am very excited to have rock greats such as Johnson, Pike and Bruton bringing their message to save the Earth from environmental catastrophe,” said Garriott. “My current gaming project, Tabula Rasa, starts with the Earth being devastated by hostile aliens, however, regardless of how humanity faces its doom, Planet Make-Over and Operation Immortality are working for the same result…humanity’s survival.”

About Stephen Bruton
Stephen Bruton is the music director at Planet Make-Over and a Grammy nominated producer. Bruton is also a successful recording artist and singer/songwriter. He has also amassed a daunting resumé, having served as a sideman/guitarist, songwriter, or producer for such industry notables as Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hal Ketchum, Christine McVie, T-Bone Burnett, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Alejandro Escovedo. Bruton grew up in Ft. Worth, Texas, the son of a jazz musician and record-store owner. He got his first big break when Kris Kristofferson tapped him to fill a vacant band slot in the early ’70s. After working with an impressive array of artists for over 20 years, Bruton released his first solo album in the early ’90s. Bruton’s fourth release, “Spirit World”, a mixture of blues, country, and rock & roll, came out in early 2002, followed in 2005 by From the Five. For more information on Bruton go to: www.stephenbruton.com.

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