US space tourist Richard Garriott
© AFP

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AFP) - "I have been working for decades on this," Garriott told AFP in this Soviet-era space base in the dusty steppes of Kazakhstan, where he is to blast off Sunday aboard a Soyuz rocket for the International Space Station (ISS).

But unlike the five space tourists who came before him, Garriott views space as a family business: He is the son of US astronaut Owen Garriott, who in 1973 spent two months aboard Skylab, the first orbiting space station.

"I grew up in a family of astronauts and I always wanted to do what my father did," said Garriott, a balding, goateed 47-year-old who was born in Cambridge, England, and grew up Houston, Texas.

The young Garriott -- a computer whiz-kid who wrote games for fun -- was dubbed "Lord British" by his classmates because of what they perceived as his English accent.

Russian specialists walks near the "Soyuz TMA-13" rocket
© AFP Dmitry Kostyukov

In the 1980s, "Lord British" became the name of the ruler of an alternative fantasy world that Garriott created for Ultima, a series of role-playing games initially written for the now-ancient Apple II computer.

The series, which became a runaway hit and later spawned an Internet version called Ultima Online, cemented Garriott's reputation as a pioneering game designer and turned him into a multi-millionaire.

In September 2007, Space Adventures, a US-based company that specialises in taking wealthy tourists into orbit, announced Garriott would be its next space tourist, following a flight that year by Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi.

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov (L), US astronaut Michael Fincke (C) and his compatriot, space tourist Richard Garriott
© AFP Dmitry Kostyukov

"It is a goal I have been working on for 20 to 30 years," said Garriott, who paid 30 million dollars (22 million euros) and underwent a series of medical examinations and months of training to be allowed aboard the flight.

"At the age of 47, I still consider myself a fairly young man, and I believe I will continue to build new businesses which will allow me to continue my exploration of the world," Garriott said.

During his 10-day trip into space, Garriott is to be accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and US astronaut Michael Fincke.

Aboard the ISS, he plans to perform several experiments on topics including the effect of space travel on the immune system and the sleep characteristics of astronauts.

In the interview, he stressed the importance of private space tourism as a way to promote further scientific research in space, expressing hope that tourists would keep flying into orbit in the future.

One of them, he hopes, will be himself on a repeat visit: "Even before my first flight, I have already begun to think of what I would like to accomplish on a second flight," he said.

©AFP