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In 2016,he joined Buzz Aldrin,the Apollo astronaut,on an expedition to Antarctica in which Aldrin became the oldest person to reach the South Pole at the age of 86.

Four years later,Harding returned with his son Giles,who at the age of 12 became the youngest person to reach the South Pole.

In 2021,Harding joined Victor Vescovo,the US explorer,on a 12-hour dive to Challenger Deep,the deepest known point of the seabed some 36,000 feet beneath the surface. He spent a record four hours and 15 minutes below the surface,travelling for 4.5 kilometres along the ocean bed.

Vescovo also travelled with Harding on the Blue Origin flight,making them the first crew to visit both Challenger Deep and space.

During Harding’s record-breaking circumnavigation of the globe,the air temperature plunged to -83 degrees,just three degrees above the aircraft’s tolerance limit,forcing the crew to drop 5000 feet to avoid catastrophic cold damage.

But he successfully completed the flight with Colonel Terry Virts,a former commander of the International Space Station,in 46 hours,39 minutes and 38 seconds,beating the previous record of 54 hours,seven minutes and 12 seconds.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said at the time. “We pushed the boundaries of aeronautics and the aircraft handled it flawlessly.”

Harding,who lives in Dubai with wife Linda,and sons Rory,18,and Giles,now 15,has said his love for space and aviation began while watching the Apollo moon landing aged five.

He is the founder and chairman of Action Aviation,which buys and sells business jets. In 2017,he introduced the first business jet to Antarctica,landing the aircraft on a specially built ice runway.

Last year,he was awarded a Living Legends of Aviation honour by Morgan Freeman. Others to have received the award include Aldrin,Sir Richard Branson,Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

Harding is also the chairman of the Middle East chapter of the Explorers Club,an international organisation founded in New York in 1904 for the advancement of exploration.

Telegraph,London

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