PRIVATE astronaut and polar explorer Eric Philips OAM will be giving a free public talk about his adventures at the Mt Beauty Community Centre at 7pm on Thursday, 19 June.

The event with the Tawonga South resident, whose adventures went out of this world in April, has been organised by the Mount Beauty Rotary Club.

Mr Philips is an Australian polar explorer and guide, renowned for his pioneering expeditions across the earth’s most extreme environments.

Alongside his friend Jon Muir, he became the first Australian to ski to both the north and south poles, destinations he has since reached more than 30 times, often pioneering new routes into unexplored regions.

Mr Philips is the founder of Icetrek Expeditions and Equipment, co-founder former president of the International Polar Guides Association, and co-creator of the Polar Expeditions Classification Scheme.

In early April, at age 62, he served as mission specialist and medical officer on the Fram2 mission, the first human spaceflight to orbit over the north and south poles. Launched from Cape Canaveral, the mission crew of four completed 55 polar orbits over 3.5 days, reaching an altitude of 440 km.

Mr Philips became the first person to fly to orbit under the Australian flag.