British businessman and adventurer Hamish Harding is among the five people onboard a submersible that went missing on Monday while conducting a dive to examine the wreckage of the Titanic, here’s everything we know about him.
In this photo provided by Blue Origin, NS-21 (New Shepard-21), astronaut Hamish Harding receives his ... [+]
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Harding wrote he would be serving as a mission specialist onboard OceanGate Expeditions’ submarine and noted that harsh weather conditions are likely to make it the only manned dive to the Titanic’s wreck site this year.
Harding is the chairman of Action Aviation, a British aircraft sales and acquisition firm that lists multiple airliners and business jets on its site.
Harding, who is also a pilot and adventurer, also holds at least four Guinness World Records including the fastest circumnavigation of Earth by airplane while crossing both poles and the “longest time spent traversing the deepest part of the ocean on a single dive.”
In March 2021, Harding joined U.S. businessman and adventurer Victor Vescovo on a dive into Challenger Deep—the deepest known point of the Earth’s ocean floor—where the set two records.
In June last year, the British aviator was one of five people to fly onboard Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin’s fifth crewed mission into space, NS-21.
Harding has also been part of two record-making trips to the South Pole, the first of which was in 2016 when was joined by astronaut Buzz Aldrin—who became the oldest person to reach the South Pole. The second instance was in 2020 when the British businessman was joined by his then 12-year-old son Giles Harding, who became the youngest to visit the location.
Harding’s exact net worth is unknown at the moment. Some British outlets including the Telegraph suggest he is a billionaire, however, Harding does not feature on Forbes’ list of billionaires.