While we all know very well the story of Richard Garriott’s $30 million ticket on board a rocket to visit the International Space Station in 2008, there was one secret that he kept from that trip — until now.
Apparently, the Ultima Online creator helped to smuggle a picture and some ashes of James “Scotty” Doohan after NASA denied permission to the family to bring the remains of the dead Star Trek actor into outer space. So without telling authorities, Garriott did so anyway, tucking the remains into a hidden part of the ISS. As a result, part of Doohan’s remains have now orbited Earth over 70,000 times.
“It was completely clandestine,” Garriott admitted. “His family were very pleased that the ashes made it up there, but we were all disappointed we didn’t get to talk about it publicly for so long. Now enough time has passed that we can.”
Chris Doohan, James’ son, thanked Garriot, saying, ““What he did was touching – it meant so much to me, so much to my family and it would have meant so much to my dad.”
