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ROOKIEIn Memoriam—
ROOKIEIn Memoriam—Other·🇵🇱 Poland·Born 1941
Mirosław Hermaszewski
First Pole in space.
190h
Hours in Space
1
Missions
0
EVAs
—
EVA Time
I, a citizen of the Polish People's Republic, feel honoured being granted the opportunity to carry out a spaceflight on the Soviet ship Soyuz 30 and the orbital station Salyut 6. The confidence entrusted in me, I will not disappoint.
The Earth broadcasts music. Glued to the porthole, I absorb the view of the Gulf of Gdańsk, I recognize the lights of Bydgoszcz.
What they aspire to
He hoped Polish youth would dream beyond the country's borders despite the political constraints of his era.
Biography
First Pole in space. Flew on the second Intercosmos mission, making Poland the fourth spacefaring nation.
Before NASAPolish Air Force fighter pilot and brigadier general, selected from a pool of 500 Polish pilots for Interkosmos.
Notable Missions
Soyuz 30 / Salyut 6 (Intercosmos)
Beyond the Mission
Causes They Champion
Polish aviation heritage and space education
Languages
PolishRussian
Awards & Honors
- Hero of the Soviet Union
- Order of Lenin
- Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Class)
- Nicolaus Copernicus Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Authored
- The Weight of Weightlessness: Story of a Pilot-Cosmonaut(2009)
Fun fact
He was the youngest of seven children and a survivor of the 1943 Volhynian massacre, in which the Ukrainian Insurgent Army murdered 19 members of his extended family.
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