HAMISH HARDING’S journey to zero-gravity space travel began with zero carbs. Before boarding the Jeff Bezos New Shepard 4 space rocket, he knew he would have to lose weight ahead of the 10-minute space flight.

“I did have to lose some weight but not because I was overweight,” says Harding, chairman of brokerage Action Aviation. “I was the last of six astronauts to board the capsule, which had to comply with a maximum weight limit,” Harding tells CJI.

Rather than wait for another mission, Harding lost 10kg in six weeks, to make the required weight. “We had a wonderful dietitian called Meena, who worked with us to make sure my diet was very strictly controlled – in summary it was a zero carb, zero dairy, only protein and vegetable diet.”

Next there was zero gravity training courtesy of the aptly named Zero-G Corporation in a modified Boeing 727. The effort proved more than worthwhile. “Space flight was something I had dreamed of doing all my life since, as a very small child, watching Buzz [Aldrin] and Neil [Armstrong] walk on the Moon during Apollo 11 in 1969 on my parents’ black-and-white TV in Hong Kong.”

Looking back on the mission – which blasted off from Launch Site One, near Van Horn, Texas on June 4th 2022 – Harding recalls the speed and the silence. “The first minute, you are above the airliners. The second minute you are out of the atmosphere of the earth completely. And the third minute, the booster rocket separates, and you are suddenly in zero G and complete silence.”

There was also the unforgettable view. “Borderless, beautiful and fragile – Earth amid the complete blackness above, which was a clear definition of space as I experienced it.” And an awareness of vulnerability. “We currently only have one home for all of us and it is not invincible. The blue atmospheric layer of 100,000 feet or so is notably thin when seen on the horizon.”

Done and dusted: The crew capsule touches down at Blue Origin’s Launch Site One near Van Horn.