Richard Garriott is arguably the most visible Austinite in the world.On October 12, 2008, Garriott launched
aboard Soyuz TMA -13 to the International Space Station as a self-funded tourist safely returning12 days later aboard Soyuz TMA-12 becoming became the first American to follow a parent into space at a cost of more than $30 million. You may also know him as the eccentric millionaire whose Haunted House Halloween parties were once legend or as Lord British in Ultima or General British in Tabula Rosa, both video games of his creation. However, Richard Garriott is a very complex individual with interests too numerous to allow a narrow definition of his fascinating personality. Born in Cambridge, England and raised just outside the NASA gates in Houston, Richard is the son of a former scientist/astronaut, Owen Garriott, who traveled twice into space aboard Skylab 3 and the Columbia Space Shuttle. His mother was an artist who exposed her son to a wide variety of art forms and encouraged Richard’s imagination and creativity. He calls his parents the ‘most influential people in my life’ owing his unique curiosity and sense of wonder to a combination of their influences. Richard, who described himself as a ‘gentleman explorer’, is extremely well spoken, articulate and personable. He definitely has no small dreams and if he has his way he will continue a quest to move the hearts of men, especially when it comes to humanity’s interconnected relationship to mother earth. I felt the best way to bring Richard Garriott center stage was to let him speak for himself.

Hamilton: As we sit here on the stage of your Curtain Theater, let’s begin with your connection to Shakespeare. Not many
people would dream of building a replica of an Elizabethan theater.

Garriot:That is true. After my parents the third most influential person in my formative years was a drama teacher from high school, Claire Harmon. I learned to love Shakespeare at the Clear Creek Country Theater so my interest goes back a long way. Also since college I have been involved with historical recreation groups such as the Society for Creative Anachronism and for many years I wanted to build a theater like this. I had the perfect spot for it. Once it was built there was an obvious connection to the work of Austin Shakespeare Festival and we naturally made the connection.

Hamilton: You read Shakespeare in space so it must have a prominent place in your psyche.

Garriot: Ann Ciccolella did the research for me and all of the passages I read were associated with man’s place on earth and
the frailty of human existence…something I saw clearly from space and something Shakespeare addressed so eloquently.

Hamilton:Speaking of your trip into space, how was it?

Garriot: Training was a lot of hard work. I lived on a Russian military base for a year. I learned to appreciate my father’s Spock-like sense of absolute clear communication and love for science. I realized why my father was a good selection for the astronaut program. It is a pretty good day when after a year of training you wake up, put on a space suit and go out to a fully fueled rocket sitting on the pad covered with frost. I was skeptical that going into space would change my perspective but it did. Absolutely.

Hamilton:In what way?

Garriot: From space you get a real sense of the interconnectedness of everything on earth. The first thing you notice is the weather systems. The world is going by at 17,000 mph and you see a lot at once. You see the fronts forming and moving across the continents and piling up across the oceans when they hit the land masses. Then you notice the geomorphology and you get a sense of understanding of how the earth was formed and
continues to change due to factors like erosion and tectonic plate movement. Finally the thing that hit me most was the footprint of humanity and the fact that man is everywhere even in those spaces we once considered totally inaccessible. Every productive part of the earth is in use. I realized that we need information about the changes our inhabitations are making to the earth and that the earth is about as full as it can get. 

Hamilton:One of the ways you documented these changes was by recreating the
photographs your father took from space 35 years ago.

Garriot: I wanted to make use of the generational history. My dad’s photographic record was the first space observations of earth so 35 years later I wanted to see if I could retake some of those photographs to compile a showcase as to the changes in the earth’s surface. The Nature Conservancy data mined and identified 500 earth observation targets. Eventually the photographs will be available for viewing at Windows on the Earth.

Hamilton:Doesn’t sound to me like you were simply a “space tourist.”

Garriot: I am happy to address that perception. Beyond the photographic record, people have asked why I would spend $30 million on a personal lark when I could have been investing in a cure for cancer and I say I am investing in a cure for cancer. My father and I have researched and collected extremophiles from the hydro-thermovents at the floor of the ocean and from ice core samples in Antarctica looking for the earliest and strongest life forms. We have extracted the proteins from these bacteria in the hope that we can create molecules called ligunds that will bind to proteins associated with diseases and stop their function. I took protein molecules into space with me to grow crystals and photograph their
structure. I took experiments collected from children by the British National Space Center with me and conducted them in space. I did not do these things because I thought I had to, I did them because they interested me and I thought it was worthwhile.

Hamilton: You have such a wide variety of interests and activities what sparks that sense of
wonder and how do you chose to spend your time and energy?

Garriot: I enjoy hard work and I like to be busy. I also like a challenge. For example I like extreme sports and when I decide to pursue something I pursue it doggedly until I reach a mastery level then I move on. I was into skydiving and hang gliding. Things that were once on my “too dangerous to do list” frequently move to my “want to do list”. For example, I have always considered climbing the highest peaks of the continents too dangerous, but I may be changing my opinion about that.

Hamilton: I read that you are also really into magic and boxing seemingly two opposite sides of the spectrum as far as activities go.

Garriot: Until I walked into Richard Lord’s boxing gym I thought of boxing as a fairly brutish sport. That was 12 years ago and I was hooked on day one. It is something I do religiously. Boxing is a phenomenally difficult sport. Not only do you have to be in top physical condition, you must
learn to be a superb and sophisticated tactician if you want to avoid being hit. Then you have to keep your where with all while someone is trying to hit you. The strategy is really akin to fencing which is also a sport that I love.

Hamilton: And the magic?

Garriot: Magic has a sense of mystery and artistry associated with it and there is a skill and technique which goes back to the illusions I program into the video games. It is all so closely related. Everything I do relates in ways people may not understand. When I design a computer game it is to me quintessential hi-tech art…Hi-tech from my father and art from my mother. I went into space following my father wearing a silver snake necklace I made with my mother when I was 11 years old. The only time it ever left my neck since I created it was to go into space with my dad. If you knew my parents, the things I do and the things that interest me…the way I approach things would make perfect sense.

Hamilton: Considering all that you have achieved that is a wonderful tribute to them. Dare I ask what’s next?

Garriot: In the next phase space will dominate my life. I will keep a finger in gaming. I love to travel and have wanted to organize an expedition to visit the disappearing indigenous populations before they disappear and from what I saw in space I might not have a lot of time before they do disappear. I am always creating and that will never stop whether it’s virtual realities or building something physical, it is the exploration and manifesting of ideas that moves me.

 

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Throughout the interview Richard Garriott’s mind was at work probably formulating his next adventure,game or experiment. He is a visionary whose dreams are anything but small. Happy in a loving relationship, living in the city he loves, doing what moves him, Richard Garriott is living his dream.

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