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Inside Edition

Vanessa O’Brien is the first woman to achieve the Explorer’s Extreme Trifecta. The 57-year-old woman scaled the peak of Mt. Everest, dove 36,000 feet to the deepest point of the Pacific Ocean and she just went to space. O’Brien was one of six passengers aboard the launch of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket and viewed space 66 miles above the Earth. Before she became a world-class explorer, O’Brien worked as a banker.

CBS Evening News

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched six people briefly into space, including Vanessa O’Brien, the first woman to complete the Explorers’ Extreme trifecta.

Good Day LA

Vanessa O’Brien talks with Good Day LA host Michaela Pereira about her new book, To The Greatest Heights, on May 6, 2021.

Why K2 is a Harder Climb Than Mount Everest

(Tech Insider) Interview with Vanessa about why Mt. Everest isn’t the hardest mountain in the world to climb, and why so fewer who attempt K2 ever make it to the top.

Sky News

Vanessa O’Brien talks to Stephen Dixon on Sky News about her lastest expeditions and book, To The Greatest Heights, on 30 April 2021.

Voice of America

Vanessa O’Brien, the first British and American woman to conquer K2, tells Voice of America her story.

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About Vanessa O’Brien

Vanessa O’Brien is a British female mountaineer and an American female mountaineer (as a result of her dual nationality), explorer, aquanaut, astronaut, author, and public speaker.

Vanessa has an incredible six Guinness World Records: First x 2, Fastest, Deepest, Farthest and Oldest. Vanessa is the first woman to reach extremes on land, sea, and air (the Explorers' Extreme Trifecta) following her mission on Blue Origin's NS-22 to 107km. Vanessa was the first woman to reach earth’s highest (Mt. Everest 8,848m) and lowest points (Challenger Deep 10,925m), the fastest woman to climb the Seven Summits in 295 days, and the first person to reach nearest to and farthest from the earth's core (Challenger Deep and the summit of Chimborazo.) Vanessa is the first woman to complete the Four Poles Challenge, going the farthest north * south * east * west from the top of Everest to the bottom of Challenger Deep to skiing the last degree to the geographic North and South Poles. She holds the record for the oldest woman to summit K2, the second tallest peak, at 52 years old.

Vanessa became the first American or British woman to successfully summit K2, receiving Explorer of the Year by the Scientific Exploration Society (SES) in 2018. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an Honorary Advisory Board member of the SES.

Vanessa summitted the highest peak on every continent, receiving a Guinness World Record for the fastest time a woman first achieved this goal (295 days.) Vanessa has skied the last 111 km to the north and south poles completing the Explorers Grand Slam in 11 months, the first woman to do so in under a year, and the 8th woman in the world. Vanessa ran the Boston Marathon in 2017, helping to raise money for the American Red Cross, has been shot testing bulletproof vests with a .38 long revolver at point blank range, and rode 200 mph with Mario Andretti at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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