Intrepid Museum
Virtual Astronomy Live
Spaceflight and Gaming w/ Richard Garriott
Past EVENT
Thursday, Dec 17th
5:30 PM EST
Private Astronaut and Video Gaming Pioneer Richard Garriott, has played a key role in opening TWO industries. First, he became a founding pioneer of the video game industry, including coining the now common term “avatar” and the category of games now known as “MMO’s”. He then became a principle shaper of the new shift to commercial human spaceflight through organizations like the X-Prize and Space Adventures. 12 years ago he became the first second generation astronaut. You will hear about Richard’s journeys and how the stage is now set for the next golden era of human space exploration, and hopefully be inspired to Explore and Create in your own life!
A pre-show will take place at 5:00pm ET with a live interactive presentation from the Intrepid Museum.
The event is hosted and co-produced by John “Das” Galloway, founder of the Kerbal Space Academy, and moderated by Summer Ash, an astrophysicist, rocket scientist and freelance writer. This is the ninth in a monthly series of Virtual Astronomy Live programs. The 2021 lineup of Virtual Astronomy Live programs will be coming soon!
This program is supported through a NASA Cooperative Agreement awarded to the New York Space Grant Consortium.
Participants
Richard Garriott de Cayeux
Richard Garriott de Cayeux is an avid Explorer and Creator. His explorations have taken him on expeditions across all 7 continents, to both poles, the extreme deep seas and outer space as a private astronaut. He uses exploration as the inspiration for his creations such as the virtual worlds he has created through his 40 year career as a principal shaper of the video gaming industry.
Richard is also a founding father of the videogame industry. He has been inducted into the computer gaming hall of fame and has received the industry lifetime achievement award. He is credited with creating the now ubiquitous term “avatar” for one’s virtual self and the category of massively multiplayer games (MMORPGs). He authored the famed and successful Ultima Series and has built 3 leading gaming companies: Origin Systems (sold to Electronic Arts), Destination Games (sold to NCsoft) and most recently Portalarium.
Richard is also a principal shaper of commercial human spaceflight. He cofounded Space Adventures, the only company to arrange space flights for private citizens and is the sixth private astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station. The son of a NASA astronaut, he became the first second-generation astronaut and remains a key leader in civilian and commercial space as an investor and Board member of institutions such as the X-Prize Foundation, Space Adventures.
Summer Ash
Moderator
Summer Ash has been both a rocket scientist and an astrophysicist. She is a freelance science writer and communicator whose work has been published in The Atlantic, NBC News, Smithsonian, Now.Space, Scientific American, Slate, and Nautilus.
John “Das”Galloway
Host and Producer
“Das” is a science outreach communicator who specializes in live, interactive video content. He is the creator of the Kerbal Space Academy, where he uses video games as a tool to start science and engineering conversations with viewers of all ages, and VECTORS Virtual Field Trips, which brings real-time interactive video to museums, events, and historical locations. “Das” also serves as a host and producer for NASASpaceflight.com.
Produced by Intrepid Museum in partnership with Kerbal Space Academy and Egress Productions, LLC.