CAPE CANAVERAL: 

Richard Garriott will make history as the first child of an American astronaut to rocket into orbit

The world's next space tourist, a computer game wizard, says he's spending the bulk of his fortune on his $30 million adventure on the trip. Richard Garriott will make history as the first child of an American astronaut to rocket into orbit, and his dad will keep in touch with him during his time in space.

Garriott is set to fly aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station in October. Speaking at a news conference in Houston on yesterday, Garriott said: "To be frank, this price tag is the majority of my wealth." He said space flight was a goal he'd been working toward for much of his life.

His father, Owen Garriott, was a NASA astronaut who visited America's first space station, Skylab, in 1973. The elder Garriott will be at Russian Mission Control outside Moscow during the 10-day mission. The two hope to speak frequently. Garriott calls his father "my chief scientist" and says he helped develop the science experiments that will be taken to the space station.

Father and son also will speak via ham radio. Owen Garriott made the first ham radio call from space during a shuttle flight in 1983.

The soon-to-be space tourist is spending this week at Johnson Space Center learning about the space station.