The son of the astronaut spent $ 30 million to buy space tickets

The son of a retired American astronaut is about to follow in his father's footsteps, after buying a $ 30 million ticket for a seat on a Russian rocket.

Richard Garriott, making money from computer games, is expected to take off on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan in October 2008, on a one-week flight to the International Space Station.

Richard Garriott, who developed the games, the son of a former astronaut, will travel the universe in 2008. Photo: AFP .

His father, Owen Garriott, 76, also flew 59 days on Skylab, the first US space station in 1973 and on space shuttle Columbia in 1983.

This is the first time an American astronaut's son flew to space. In Russia, there were three times the boys followed their father's footsteps to join the astronaut force, and one was nominated to the international station next spring.

" My father is an astronaut, so I grew up believing that the universe will welcome everyone at some point in the future, " Richard Garriott said. " But I realized that in NASA's way it was a statistically unimaginable thing. If I had the opportunity to go on my own, it would be a private space trip ."

Garriot is 46 years old and lives in a medieval-style mansion in Texas. He plans to spend most of his time in the universe for science, engineering and education projects.

T. An