LINCOLN, Neb., October 10, 2008 – Richard Garriott, son of University of Nebraska Press author Owen K. Garriott, will become the sixth private client to head into space. Richard will climb aboard the Russian Soyuz Spacecraft for a ten-day trip and stay on the International Space Station. Richard’s launch will take place on Sunday, October 12th at 3:00 A.M. EDT. He plans on including in his personal effects photographs of the book cover of his father’s forthcoming title, Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story (Nebraska, 2008). 

Richard’s father, Owen K. Garriott, is a former NASA astronaut—and one of the first six scientist-astronauts selected in 1965. He was stationed on Skylab in 1973 and later flew STS-9, the first international Spacelab mission. This trip will make Richard the first, second-generation American in space.

Owen K. Garriott is the co-author, along with David W. Hitt and Joe P. Kerwin, of the University of Nebraska Press forthcoming title Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story, due out this November. Homesteading Space, part of Nebraska’s Outward Odyssey series.

About the University of Nebraska Press: Founded in 1941, the University of Nebraska Press (UNP) is a nonprofit scholarly and general interest press that publishes 160 new and reprint titles annually under the Nebraska and Bison Books imprints respectively, along with 25 journals.  As the largest and most diversified university press between Chicago and California, with nearly 3,000 books in print, the University of Nebraska Press is best known for publishing works in Indigenous Studies, Western American History, literary translation, and sports history.  A distinctive member of the University of Nebraska community, UNP supports the missions of research, teaching, and service.  In addition, UNP’s sustained commitment to publications on the peoples, culture, and heritage of Nebraska reflects decades of service to its home state.

Count down to the launch here.