UAE: Hamish Harding, Chairman of Action Aviation and long-term resident of Dubai, will continue his mission to explore the most undiscovered places on earth this Saturday (4 June 2022) as part of the crew on Blue Origin’s NS-21 flight into space.The journey into space follows a number of other Guinness World Record missions for Harding, including the longest duration spent at Full Ocean Depth and also the longest distance traversed at Full Ocean Depth, when he dived the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in a two-person submersible to a depth of 36,000 feet (11,000 meters). Captain Harding also led the One More Orbit mission which achieved the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the earth via both poles in a Gulfstream G650ER (46 hours, 40 minutes). 

A committed explorer and philanthropist, Harding is Chair of the Middle East Chapter of The Explorers Club, an international organisation founded in New York in 1904 which is dedicated to the advancement of field exploration and scientific enquiry. He has also recently established the One More Orbit Foundation to inspire and sponsor the explorers of tomorrow to achieve the impossible through educational outreach in Science, Technology, Art, Engineering and Mathematics (STEAM).

Harding will be part of a six-person crew on the fifth human flight for Blue Origin’s New Shepard programme. Other crew members include Katya Echazarreta, the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly into space, and famed undersea explorer Victor Vescovo, who co-piloted DSV Limiting Factor with Harding to the bottom of the deepest point of the oceans in March 2021.

Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos with the vision of enabling a future where millions of people are living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. In order to preserve Earth, Blue Origin believes that humanity will need to expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move heavy industry into space. The mission uses reusable launch vehicles fuelled by liquid oxygen and hydrogen - the only by-product of New Shepard’s engine combustion is water vapour and no carbon emissions. 

As part of his mission, Harding will carry a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s Foundation, Club for the Future. The foundation’s mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space. As part of a space-focused curriculum, students are invited to write or draw their vision for a future life in space on a postcard which will be launched into space by the New Shepard programme and returned to the author stamped with ‘Flown to Space’.  

Hamish Harding, Chairman of Action Aviation, said: “Last year, when I completed my mission to traverse the deepest depths of the ocean looking for new species and signs of human pollution, many people asked me what was next. As an explorer and an adventurer, for me, it was always about space. I am a long-term and proud resident of the UAE and this very much aligns with the country’s own ambitions and its commitment to exploration and science. The vision of Blue Origin and the commitment of its Club for the Future to STEM education is something that resonates very strongly with me and my own focus as Middle East chair of The Explorers Club and founder of the One Orbit Foundation.”

Harding added: “The Blue Origin NS-21 flight not only gives my fellow astronauts and I the incredible opportunity to experience the final frontier for ourselves, but gives scientists, students and businesses access to space research that will help transform our future. I am proud to represent both the UAE and the UK on this mission.”

Blue Origin NS-21 will take off from West Texas in the US on Saturday 4 June 2022.  The 60-foot reusable, autonomous and suborbital rocket system was built for human flight and can carry six astronauts. The capsule and booster take off vertically before separating at about 250,000 feet (76 km) and continues to ascend to space to reach an apogee of 350,000 feet (106 km) and a speed of over 2,200 miles per hour (3,500 km/h). The astronauts will ascend past the Kármán Line (100 km), which is the internationally recognised boundary of space where full weightlessness is experienced.  Once completed, this will be the 21st consecutive New Shepard launch, the fifth with a human crewed flight.

Harding is a multiple word record holder including the fastest circumnavigation of the earth via both poles in a Gulfstream G650ER business jet for his One More Orbit mission.  He also broke two world records for his DSV Limiting Factor / Challenger Deep Dive - Greatest Distance Travelled at Full Ocean Depth (4.6 km) and Greatest Duration Spent at Full Ocean Depth (4 hours 15 minutes).