Richard Garriott’s Mission in October, 2008
In October 2008, Richard Garriott is scheduled to launch on a Russian Soyuz to the International Space Station. He will remain onboard for 10 days conducting educational and scientific programs and experiments. Earth observation is one of his prime tasks on this mission, and he will use the Windows on Earth system to help him take pictures of specific targets.
To support the Garriott mission, we are developing a version of Windows on Earth that will enable Johnson Space Center scientists, Garriott, and his support team to pre-define specific targets for photographs, plot them along the orbital track and notify him of the best opportunities to take the photos. This will include azimuth information, based on ISS orbital parameters, so that the view in the simulator accurately matches the view out any selected ISS window. Garriott will also be able to pre-view what the target will look like as the ISS flies over, based on the calculated orbital path.
Father and Son Astronauts
Richard Garriott, a fee-paying astronaut, is the son of astronaut Owen Garriott, who flew on Skylab 3 (1973) and STS-9 (1983). Richard will have a unique opportunity to take pictures of areas of Earth photographed during his father’s Skylab mission 35 years ago to see how Earth’s surface (and the technology of Earth observation) have changed over that time frame. The target selection will include on areas originally photographed during Owen Garriott’s Skylab mission. Both Richard and Owen have been a key members of our planning and design team.
