We first reported about Richard Garriott and Stephen Hawking's "vomit comet" trip during the earlier parts of April. We also reported about what happened during this trip, but now, we have some photos to share with you, be sure to click on the thumbnails to have a better view of the pics.

Garriott joined Hawking, his entourage of assistants, and 25 other passengers on the converted Boeing 727 as it ascended 25,000 feet from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was Garriott's fourth trip to the edge of space but he clearly can't hide his excitement in his blog post (which you can check out in our read link below). As for Prof. Hawking, this trip is indeed another feather in his cap.

"Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space" from the band Spiritualized should have been the perfect theme song for one of the world's leading theoretical physicists Stephen Hawking and Tabula Rasa's Richard Garriott as the two and a handful of others soared through a zero-gravity flight last Thursday.

The momentous event for Hawking (he's been in his wheel chair for four decades now because of ALS) took place inside the cabin of a modified 727 over the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Canaveral. The flight took a total of eight parabolas - the same flight technique astronauts experienced during weightless space environment preparations.

Speaking of which, Richard Garriott mentioned that they only planned for six parabolas but Hawking was grinning widely and seen as really having a great time. Garriott, who is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, added, "six parabolas really was the intended cutoff point. But he was having so much fun, we went for two more, and then we thought we'd better quit while we're ahead."

Aside from the obvious reason that Hawking wanted to get out of his wheel chair, he explained that he joined the flight because he believes that the future of man lies outside of this endangered world. He commented,

I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically-engineered virus or other dangers, I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space.

Hawking was accompanied by several people during the flight including four physicians, two nurses, two coaches, and two dozen other friends. The famed physicist announced plans for another zero-gravity flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center to celebrate his 65th birthday in January.

One of the brains behind Tabula Rasa, Richard Garriott, and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking are teaming up! Unfortunately, they're not gonna put their heads together to concoct a kickass MMORPG, these two guys are going to be travel buddies. Where would they go, you may ask. Well, they're off on the "vomit comet" - a zero-gravity flight that goes up roughly 24, 000 feet and induces weightlessness and queasiness.

The duo would be travelling on April 16.

Said Hawking when asked about this unusual trip, he wanted to show "that people need not be limited by physical handicaps, as long as they are not disabled in spirit". Lord British is of course not a newbie in this field - he is a space enthusiast and has gone on three zero-gravity flights before. In fact, Richard Garriott is an investor in Zero Gravity Corporation, a company who sells the flights on a modified and amped Boeing 727.

According to Mike Crouch, a NCSoft spokesman, Mr. Garriott is "very excited about it...He's read all of his books, watched as many programs on Professor Hawking as possible".

Well, hopefully after this trip, he'll give us more updates on Tabula Rasa.