AUSTIN -- Richard Garriott is perhaps best known as the legendary designer of such classic video games as "Ultima" and the upcoming "Tabula Rasa."

But he's also the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. He says that, as an astronaut's son, he'd always wanted to go beyond games and follow in his father's footsteps. But the games designer also says he knew that making it through NASA was highly improbable.

So he's found another route, and he finally gets his chance at space travel next year.

The 46-year-old Austin resident lives in a medieval-themed mansion called Brittania Manor known as a venue for elaborate Halloween parties.

On Friday, Space Adventures Limited announced that Garriott is paying $30 million of his own cash to fly a mission to the international space station. He'll make the flight in October of next year.

Space Adventures is the private suburban Washington company that's sent others into space for a price. Garriott will be the sixth civilian the company has blasted into space, following Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi.