To learn more about this historic mission and how it benefits global conservation, visit nature.org/richard. Download Texas Conservation Milestones  print version (914kb).   Texas Conservation Milestones Home Protecting the Edwards Aquifer Restoring a Gulf Coast Treasure Saving the Attwater's Prairie Chicken from Extinction Richard Garriott: Conservationist, Space Traveler Balancing Energy and Conservation Yoakum Dunes Preserve A New Trail Showcases an Old-Growth Forest Conservation from Caddo Lake to the Lower Brazos River A New Home for Conservation in Texas Dick Bartlett: An Unparalleled Legacy Our Supporters

Conservancy member Richard Garriott’s passion for science has taken him to some of the planet’s most remote places. The Austin-based computer game developer has traversed Antarctica in search of meteorites, tracked mountain gorillas through the rainforest of Rwanda and explored hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

In October, that profound sense of adventure led Richard on his most ambitious journey ever — a 10-day journey aboard the International Space Station, nearly 220 miles above the Earth’s surface.

For Richard, the trip fulfilled a childhood dream, the seeds of which were planted by his father, former NASA scientist and astronaut Dr. Owen Garriott. In his 21-year NASA career, Dr. Garriott flew space missions aboard Skylab 3 and Spacelab 1. He set a then world record by spending 60 days aboard Skylab, a precursor to the International Space Station. As part of both missions, Owen Garriott photographed the Earth while in orbit, and those pictures hold the key to one of the most important purposes of Richard’s mission — to raise global awareness for conservation.

During his mission aboard the International Space Station, Richard amassed a new collection of photographs of Earth using coordinates supplied by Conservancy scientists. These photographs provide a macro view of some of the planet’s most essential natural systems — fragile landscapes such as deserts, forests, coastlines, glaciers and grasslands, as well as major rivers on several continents. Scientists from the Conservancy are comparing the new images to older photographs, including those taken by Richard's father to illustrate how conservation — and the urgent need for more — shapes our planet.

As a Texan, Richard wanted representation of his home state in the new archive, so the new photographs showcase Conservancy priorities in West Texas, along the Gulf Coast and around the Dallas/Fort Worth area, among others. These pictures illustrate some of the pressing conservation issues facing our state — urban expansion, wildlife habitat fragmentation, wetlands loss — and also demonstrate some of the successes the Conservancy has achieved, such as preserving the dark skies surrounding the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains and barrier island habitat along the Laguna Madre. The photographs offer an excellent visual representation of the need for conservation and will help shape the Conservancy’s work for years to come.

Next Story»

 

Nature picture credits (left to right, top to bottom): Photo © Will van Overbeek (Richard Garriott); Photo © NASA (Earth, the blue marble); Photo © Austin Business Journal (Laura Huffman); Photo © Rebecca Flack/TNC (Frio River); Photo © Danny White/TNC (Oysters); Photo © Clay Carrington/TNC (Attwater's prairie chicken); Photo © Will van Overbeek (Richard Garriott); Photo © David A. Williams (prairie grass); Photo © Janet Haas (pronghorn); Photo © TNC (Lennox Woods Preserve); Photo © Lynn Mc Bride/TNC (Caddo Lake); Photo © Insite Architects (Pearl Brewery Design); Photo courtesy of Dick Bartlett (Dick Bartlett); Richard Garriott video courtesy of The Nature Conservancy.