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Send a message with Richard Garriott into space...

Tabula Rasa mastermind and space fanatic Richard Garriott today reveals that he will be going to the International Space Station come October.

When he journeys to the space station, Garriott will apparently become the very first 'second-generation' American astronaut. He'll carry with him an 'Immortality Drive'; data on humanity's achievements, human genome information, as well as messages from people back on earth.

This real-world adventure will be cunningly linked in with the plot from Tabula Rasa, we learn: "Mankind’s days are numbered as the Bane assault on humanity continues. In a valiant last effort to ensure our survival, General British prepares to take a voyage to the International Space Station, clutching the Immortality Drive – a device containing humanity's greatest achievements, personal messages to loved ones and the digital data of Tabula Rasa AFS soldiers from across the galaxy. Our future is now in his hands."

Tabula Rasa players can get involved and leave their own space legacy via the official Operation Immortality website. Garriott is only the sixth private citizen to be undertaking a space mission, and you can also follow his progress on his personal site, devoted to the trip.

As you'll need to be a Tabula Rasa subscriber to send your thoughts to the ISS, NCsoft are kindly offering some new 7-day trial codes to our lovely readers for the action-focussed MMO, enabling people to try out the game and get involved in Garriott's spaceshot. You can grab the game client here, and a trial code here. Hurry, only a limited number are available!

By Luke Guttridge