Man on a Mission

Software pioneer Richard Garriott—the son of Skylab crewman Owen Garriott—found that his nearsightedness disqualified him from NASA's high standards for astronauts, so after becoming a computer-game-developer millionaire, the Austin-based junior Garriott (aka Lord British) pushed for a free-enterprise venture to allow civilians to travel into space. Here, Garriott decides that the time is right to pay his own $30 million fee to accommodating Russians to have his long-awaited turn as a "space tourist," with the intention of catching a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station. The lively, upbeat narrative follows our peripatetic hero through a one-year training period (including Russian language lessons and wilderness-survival scenarios), the space voyage itself, and a genuinely suspenseful return to Earth in traditional Russian style—a dangerous hard-impact landing on the ground (no shuttle, no splashdown). While numerous NASA films and moon-shot celebrations have depicted similar mission plans with astronauts, seeing a civilian on the adventure adds a new layer of interest. DVD extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, and the comedic short "Apogee of Fear," which Renaissance man Garriott filmed during his ISS sojourn. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassasdy)