A historic 12-day journey to the International Space Station by private space explorer and Challenger Center Board Member Richard Garriott will have its world premiere at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. “Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission” will have two screenings at the 2010 conference. The first will be 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 14 at Austin’s Paramount Theater and the second will be Thursday, March 18, at 2:30 p.m., also at the Paramount.
Mr. Garriott’s trip to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket in October of 2008 was the sixth trip for a civilian and the first trip to space for a second generation American astronaut. His father, Dr. Owen Garriott spent 60 days aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 and flew on the space shuttle in 1983. While onboard the Space Station, Mr. Garriott conducted three downlink events with Challenger Learning Centers, students and teachers from across the nation. He also videotaped a series of science experiments for students that can be found at http://www.youtube.com/ccsse.
“Space flight has been a life-long dream for Richard, and we followed his journey with excitement and pride,” said Challenger Center Founding Chairman June Scobee Rodgers.
“When I first met Richard when he was a senior in high school, he impressed me as a young man who would achieve his dreams, and he helped us to accomplish ours by working on the original design for our Challenger Learning Center simulators,” she continued.
For more information on “Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission” go to http://www.manonamissionmovie.com. The movie trailer is available for viewing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPRvqt3NKFs
To see the Challenger Learning Center activities for students focused on his mission visit: http://www.challenger.org/programs/garriottchallenge.cfm
About Challenger Center
Using space exploration as a theme and simulations as a vehicle, Challenger Center and its international network of nearly 50 Challenger Learning Centers create positive educational experiences that raise students’ expectations of success, fosters a long-term interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and inspires students to pursue studies and careers in these areas. Challenger Center’s network of Challenger Learning Centers across the United States and in Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Korea reach more than 400,000 students each year through simulated space missions and educational programs, and engage over 40,000 educators through missions, teacher workshops and other programs. To learn more about Challenger Center for Space Science Education, visit www.challenger.org.
To request an interview with Mr. Garriott, contact Cathy Conley at Conley Swofford Media.
Email: csmedia@austin.rr.com, Phone: 512.923.9806
Contact: Rob Cork
Director of Communications
rcork@challenger.org
703-535-1361
Challenger Center for Space Science Education
300 N. Lee Street, Suite 301
Alexandria, VA 22314
