As the next civilian to fly into space, Richard Garriott, a preeminent game developer and son of NASA Skylab Astronaut Owen, plans to engage with students, teachers and the 50 Challenger Learning Centers around the world through interactive activities before, during and after his flight to the International Space Station, currently scheduled for October 2008.

On April 21, 2008 at 12:00pm ET, Richard Garriott will hold an interactive live webcast with students and teachers.  Students of all ages are encouraged to submit a question for Mr. Garriott on the Challenger Center for Space Science Education’s website. Questions can be submitted in writing or by video.

If a question is chosen for the webcast, Mr. Garriott will answer it during the live webcast. Student videos may also be used on the live webcast and posted on the Challenger Center YouTube site. Deadline is April 18th for submissions. All Challenger Center webcasts are free and open to the general public and archived for viewing post event.

Richard Garriott plans to spend time before, during and after his flight conducting interactive activities with students; amateur ham radio conversations with students during his flight; and performing experiments that can be replicated by students using everyday objects to demonstrate important concepts in physics.

Challenger Center for Space Science Education was founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts of the space shuttle Challenger 51-L mission. It is dedicated to the educational spirit of that mission and impacts over 300,000 students and 25,000 teachers each year.