Space
tourist-to-be Richard Garriott is taking requests for what may be the ultimate
orbital postcards from the International Space Station.
Garriott,
an American computer game develiper training for an October launch, will take
custom photographs of Earth for about 200 paying subscribers under a
partnership with the "Earth Portraits" program of the Association of
Space Explorers (ASE) and the space history and memorabilia Web site
collectSPACE.com.
Based in
Austin, Texas, Garriott is paying about $30 million for his planned Oct. 12
launch to the ISS with two professional astronauts under a deal brokered with Russia's Federal Space Agency by the Virginia-based
firm Space Adventures. He plans to perform a series of experiments and
educational outreach projects during his flight in addition to the Earth
Portraits program.
The
non-profit ASE is a group of 300 flown astronauts and cosmonauts from 32
countries. As part of the Earth Portraits program, a limited number of 200
subscribers can pay $500 a piece to have Garriott snap a photo of any location
on Earth, so long as it is visible from the ISS during his week-long stay. The
actual latitude and longitude of the location is required to request an Earth
Portrait, with all reservations due by May 23.
Source: SPACE.com
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