As a teenager, Garriot created the Akalabeth game on his Apple IIE, just for fun. He sold 30,000 copies. It gave him seed money at an early age and laid the foundation for his bestselling Ultima franchise. The son of Skylab 3 astronaut Owen Garriot, the gaming entrepreneur always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, his near-sightedness was an automatic disqualification. Not easily dissuaded, Garriot always thought long-term, frequently investing in ventures pursuing private space travel.
One of those start-ups was Space Adventures, which eventually forged an alliance with the Russian space program to send up so-called space tourists. Garriot was first in line, until the dot-com bubble caused a temporary hiccup in his finances. Economically back on track, Garriot begin his year-long training regimen, with Woolf’s cameras in tow.
This is hardly one of those quiet observational documentaries. Clearly an evangelist for space travel, particularly as a private sector concern, Garriot freely discusses every aspect of the mission on camera. He wants audiences to share his enthusiasm, which is a rather appealing change.
Viewers also get an appreciation of the Russian/Soviet space program, which Garriot extols at length for all their firsts. Still, he readily admits that moon thing was a biggie for the Americans. We also see the reverence and camaraderie with which Garriot observes all the Cosmonaut pre-flight rituals. (However, we don’t see them partake in the traditional viewing Vladimir Motyl’s White Sun of the Desert, a surprisingly fun yarn for a Soviet propaganda picture.)
