Richard Garriott is back on Earth after his ride into space as part of Operation Immortality. You can look back on his adventure at RichardinSpace.com, where you can watch a video of his return.

Also, the Tabula Rasa Web site points us toward an article and video interview on the Times Online of the UK. The full article is also copied below. Personally, I'm glad this whole experience was a success for Garriott. It was an important and historic event.

In similar news, the TR team's Feedback Friday post gives a little taste of the first Earth map in the upcoming Deployment 15. It looks like Richards' not the only one returning to our home turf.

NCsoft will now be sending the digitized DNA of world-renowned theoretical physicist and author Stephen Hawking into space as part of its ambitious “Operation Immortality ” project, which the Tabula Rasa publisher is considering humanity’s “saved game.” This gives us the opportunity to imagine what would happen if the digital DNA of Hawking and Stephen Colbert were to accidentally merge on the International Space Station. Sounds like a great sci-fi sitcom to me.

Hawking, along with his daughter, Lucy, are participating in the project to raise awareness for the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, a competition that will award $10 million to the first person or team that can sequence 100 human genomes within 10 days or less.