On 5th August 2024, Axiom Space – a Houston-based US company, involved in the development of astronautical technologies and commercial space tourism – has published a press release disclosing its future space exploration plans and establishing new, international collaboration. According to this announcement, the company has partnered with India, Hungary and Poland, in order to send three astronauts from the aforementioned countries to the International Space Station (ISS), within the next Axiom 4 (Ax-4) commercial crewed mission.
The Polish national who will fly to the Earth-orbiting space laboratory in a few months is Sławosz Uznański. A year and a half ago, he was selected as European Space Agency reserve astronaut, being among the seventeen, newly chosen members of the 2022 ESA Astronaut Class.
On 1st September 2023, Uznański began his project astronaut training in the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) located in Cologne, Germany. As he is a qualified engineer and scientist with a doctorate, it must have been like going back to school for him. That is because the astronaut training primarily involves many hours of theoretical classes in subjects such as astrophysics, astrobiology, space medicine and many others.
In the Extended Reality (XR) laboratory in the EAC, Uznański took part in virtual walks both inside and outside the International Space Station. With use of VR equipment, he learned how to navigate around the ISS and prepared himself to orientate in microgravity.
Regular physical trainings are very important to face the challenges of spaceflight. Therefore, a dedicated physical training room called the Cosmic Gym is available at the EAC for the preparing candidates for astronauts on a daily basis. During his stay in Cologne, Sławosz Uznański, who, in general, leads an active lifestyle, visited the Cosmic Gym every day.
During his training at the EAC, the Polish project astronaut also underwent medical training, during which he learned basic medical tasks, for example how to drain blood or stitch wounds. Knowing how to perform such actions is very important for astronauts. Such skills not only make them able to help crew members in potential emergency situations, but also to conduct some science experiments which require work on their own body.
In addition, Sławosz Uznański, attended classes at the Natural Buoyancy Facility (NBF). This time as a guest, because that was not officially part of his training programme at the EAC. In the NBF, he had an opportunity to observe other trainees practicing simulated spacewalks in a 10-metres-deep pool and performing various tasks on an underwater mock-up of European laboratory Columbus, being one of the ISS modules.
In the meantime, Uznański visited Cape Canaveral, Florida to watch his fellow astronaut corps member Marcus Wandt launching into space within Axiom 3 mission. Then, the Polish astronaut candidate visited the Columbus Control Centre (Col-CC) located at the German Aerospace Centre DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. From there, Sławosz Uznański had the opportunity to follow the Ax-3 mission, working with control centre operators at their consoles and attending conferences with astronauts on the ISS.
In April 2024, Sławosz Uznański, together with other members of the 2022 ESA astronaut class, moved to Bordeaux, France, to attend aeroplane parabolic flights on board special Airbus ‘Zero G’ A310 and experience weightlessness for the first time. Those flights are another important part of the training, as they allow the astronaut trainees to get familiar with the feel of floating in microgravity. The so called zero G flights are one of the best ways available on Earth, to learn how to move around, act and work in space.
The next step of preparations for the Polish astronaut candidate was to undergo training in ham radio operation. Firstly, Sławosz Uznański travelled to the Netherlands where he took part in a training on signal interference handling. This course, held at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, simulates the many incoming radio signals that astronauts in space often have to deal with, when communicating with the Earth. Thanks to that training, the Polish astronaut was able to learn how to handle such communication interferences. Next, he completed radio operation course in Poland. After passing the exam, Uznański obtained his Polish radio operator’s license and unique call sign.
In addition, during his stay in the Netherlands, Sławosz Uznański actively supported teams involved in preparation of experiments to be carried out in the Earth’s orbit. Works on them took place at ESTEC in cooperation with the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) and Polish industry.
On 5th August 2024, Axiom Space informed about launching the cooperation with India, through Indian Space Agency (ISRO), as well as Poland and Hungary, with support of ESA, to send astronauts from the mentioned countries to the ISS, within the commercial Axiom 4 mission.
The crew assigned to the Ax-4 includes Mission Commander Peggy Whitson – American retired NASA astronaut, now working with Axiom Space – as well as Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla from India and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. On the day the announcement was made by the Axiom Space company, the entire future crew of the upcoming mission arrived in Houston to begin their final training with Axiom Space, NASA and SpaceX.
The Ax-4 mission will put significant emphasis on scientific research, technology demonstration as well as commercialization of space. In addition, the mission aims to foster cooperation by sharing knowledge, resources and capabilities with the company’s international partners, strengthening their countries as leaders in the growing space community.
Sławosz Uznański will not only be the second in history, after Mirosław Hermaszewski, Polish citizen to fly into space, but also the second ESA astronaut to fly to the ISS within the Axiom Space commercial human spaceflight mission. The first was the aforementioned Marcus Wandt, who is also the second ever Swedish astronaut who flew to the ISS.
The participation of the Polish astronaut in the Axiom 4 mission is the result of contract for the preparation and execution of a Polish technological mission to the ISS, signed in August of 2023 between the Polish Ministry of Development and Technology (MRiT) and ESA. In preparation of the mission, the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) is also involved, as an executive agency of MRiT.
In addition, in July 2022, Axiom Space and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) programme, along with the expansion of space research and technology development capabilities. Basing on the mentioned agreement, in September of 2023, Axiom Space and the Hungarian Ministry signed a Space Flight Framework Agreement (SFA) to facilitate the launch of a Hungarian astronaut.
In July 2024, the Axiom Space company signed also a similar SFA with the Indian Space Research Organisation, which is an important step in the efforts to establish cooperation between ISRO and NASA on the International Space Station.
‘Ax-4 represents Axiom Space’s continued efforts to build opportunity for countries to research, innovate, test, and engage with people around the world while in low-Earth orbit. This mission broadens horizons for nations with ambitious goals of advancing scientific, technological, and economic pursuits. Our collaboration with ESA for a second time and the inclusion of Hungary and India underscores Axiom Space’s ability to cultivate global partners, expand the scope of exploration, and open up new avenues to grow a global space economy.’ – said Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space.
It is also worth to add, that during the Axiom 4 mission experiments developed by representatives of the Polish space sector, under ESA supervision, will be conducted on the ISS.
The Axiom 4 mission is scheduled for launch in 2025 – with the exact date yet to be determined – from NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew of Axiom Space fourth commercial manned spaceflight to the ISS will fly aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, lifted into orbit by Falcon 9 rocket of the same company. During the mission, the astronauts are going to spend about fourteen days on the ISS.
Admittedly, the crew members assigned to the Ax-4 mission have yet to be approved for flight to the ISS by the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP). Its decisions are made by consensus of all five international ISS partner representatives – NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
However, now, when the names of the crew members were officially revealed, their approval by the MCOP is rather just a formality and the launch of the Axiom 4 mission – with the crew including the second in history Polish national to fly into space – seems to be only a matter of time.
In conclusion, it is worth to add that, for Sławosz Uznański, the visit to the USA is not the final stage of preparations. Before his flight into space, the Polish astronaut will also visit Japan to familiarise himself with the Japanese ISS module named Kibō owned by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and will undergo further training in Cologne.
In the article ESA, Axiom Space and POLSA press materials were used. All photos ©ESA.
