Second ever Polish astronaut to travel to space on mission to ISS

Aug 9, 2023 | Society

A Polish astronaut will participate in a European Space Agency (ESA) mission, in what will be the second time ever a Pole has travelled to space. “A Polish flight to the International Space Station (ISS) is guaranteed,” announced the Polish Space Agency (PAK).

The minister of development and technology, Waldemar Buda, revealed today that an agreement he had signed on 4 August regarding the Polish flight to the ISS had today been initialled by the mission’s collaborative partners the ESA and Axiom Space, an American company that operates end-to-end missions to the ISS.

The ministry explained that while the Polish flight is guaranteed by the agreement, the ESA is yet to approve the candidate that Poland will put forward. Buda announced that engineer Sławosz Uznański, who is the only Polish member of the ESA astronaut reserve, will be the candidate for the mission.

“We are certain that the second Polish astronaut in history will participate in a space mission into orbit”, Buda said in a video posted by his ministry. “This is an amazing story that is being written before our eyes,” said the minister.

All aspects required for the mission’s preparation and deployment will be managed by Axiom Space in collaboration with the ESA, including access to training facilities and instructors, equipment and safety certification, in-orbit management, and post-mission support.

“This is a prestigious opportunity for Poland, but also for the entire space industry. Cross your fingers!” Buda concluded the video.

As well as carrying out experiments and testing advanced Polish technology, the astronaut’s tasks during the mission will also serve an educational purpose to Polish students.

“In addition to testing Polish technology in low Earth orbit, the educational aspect is also important to us,” Kamila Król, deputy minister of development and technology, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

“We hope that the lessons broadcast from the ISS, conducted by a Polish astronaut, will reach thousands of students and will translate into a great interest in the subject of space among young Poles.”

If Uznański partakes in the mission to space, he will join Mirosław Hermaszewski as the only Poles to do so. Hermaszewski was part of a two-man crew aboard the Soviet spaceship Soyuz 30 that flew into orbit on 27 June 1978 and docked at the Salyut 6 orbital space station. Hermaszewski and Soviet cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk circled the globe 126 times before returning to Earth on 5 July that year.

Hermaszewski passed away last December aged 81.

Uznański was selected as a member of the ESA astronaut reserve in November 2022. He has worked as a project lead and senior reliability engineer at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva and as a technical expert for the European Union’s research and innovation funding programme Horizon 2020.

According to the ministry of development and technology, in 2023 Poland increased its financial contribution to the ESA by €295 million, allowing Polish companies to participate in various programmes for the development of technologies, products and services in the field of satellite communications, navigation and Earth observation.


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Main image credit: ESA/YouTube

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