British explorer has become first person to visit Earth's four furthest extremes.
A British explorer has become the first person to visit Earth's four furthest extremes after diving to the deepest point on the planet. Richard Garriott emerged from the 36,000ft depths of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean this week after spending 12 hours in a deep sea vehicle.
It adds to a list of achievements that have seen him trek to the South Pole in 1998, spend ten days in orbit on the International Space Station in 2008 and go to the North Pole in 2018.
His latest escapade saw the multi-millionaire video game developer, 59, land at the foot of Challenger Deep, the lowest known point in the world's oceans. He was aboard the £26million deep sea vehicle Limiting Factor, piloted by fellow adventurer Victor Vescovo, who was making his ninth dive into the abyss.
The trip was undertaken in the name of science, looking for organisms which can survive the harshest of conditions. Working with education charity the Ideas Foundation, Mr Garriott hopes to inspire future generations to become explorers.
The married father-of-two took photos and made a short film for children - just as he did on the International Space Station. That trip saw him become the sixth space tourist, paying an estimated £21million to take off from Kazakhstan on a Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft.
Mr Garriott, born in Cambridge but brought up in the US, said of his travels: 'I find those moments to be awe-inspiring in the truest sense of awe.'
Highest & Lowest
