The astronaut recently returned to Poland for the first time since completing the IGNIS mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Speaking to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) he said: “Of course I am ready to join the European Astronaut Corps if such a decision is made. If I had such an opportunity and we were actually preparing for the next space mission, it would be a great honour to represent Poland.”

He added that the final decision on his appointment to the active astronaut corps depends on cooperation between the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the Ministry of Finance and Economy, and ESA.

Uznański-Wiśniewski is currently a reserve ESA astronaut. He participated in the IGNIS mission as a project astronaut under a contract that expires at the end of 2025.

According to the Ministry of Development and Technology, which previously oversaw Poland’s space policy, discussions are underway regarding his inclusion in ESA’s active astronaut corps.

The ministry also said that Poland committed approximately €400 million to ESA for the 2023–2025 period and aims to maintain this level of funding — a factor that may influence the final decision.

“We have the opportunity to cooperate in Europe. Poland is building technology more and more intensively, but we are still at the beginning of the road. After all, our history of this development is quite short,” Uznański-Wiśniewski said.

He described Poland’s recent mission to the ISS as a first step toward long-term development and said the country could become a leader in specific areas of space technology.

“I am convinced that the driving force of innovation is and always has been exploration. It is thanks to exploration that we ask ourselves difficult questions and solve difficult problems. It allows us to go further, see what the Earth looks like from our orbit. This allowed us to see what the Earth looks like from the Moon and we know that we are going back to the Moon. We are also a country that participates in this project and in the Artemis missions,” he said.

The Artemis program, led by NASA in collaboration with ESA and commercial partners, aims to return humans to the Moon in 2027.

“Active members of the European Astronaut Corps train for long-term missions to the space station. Recent years have seen primarily six-month missions, during which astronauts perform a lot of experiments and technological demonstrations from their countries, but also from all over Europe,” Uznański-Wiśniewski said. “As an engineer and scientist I feel good in this part of the experiments as an operator, and as a scientist I am able to understand the theoretical foundations that are important for these experiments.”

He added that his appointment would strengthen Poland’s long-term position as an equal partner in European and international space missions. “Remaining in the European Astronaut Corps as an active member would be an incredibly big challenge for me, but also professional development,” he said.

Uznański-Wiśniewski said he has not made any career decisions beyond the end of his contract. “I would not like to make decisions now, returning from the space mission. I think we have a huge part of work to do to consolidate the knowledge we acquired,” he said.

A specialist in space technology with 17 years of experience, he said he hopes to continue contributing to Polish scientific and engineering efforts.

“I am happy to share my knowledge. I think that I will always be attached to science, engineering, technology, it comes very naturally to me. I hope that my knowledge will be used and, at the same time, I will be able to help the Polish side in those issues that I know well, in technological issues,” he said.

“I am open to a role — be it advisory or scientific — or promoting knowledge and sharing my own knowledge. I think I am in an incredibly unique position, having space experience and at the same time 17 years of experience building space equipment and new technologies for science and industry,” he added.

He also noted that other experts involved in the IGNIS mission could take leading roles in developing satellite constellations, crisis management centres, or future space missions.

Uznański-Wiśniewski is currently taking part in a series of debriefings following the AX-4 mission, with sessions scheduled with ESA, NASA, Axiom SpaceX, and the Hungarian and Indian space agencies.

“I have already started some with the European Space Agency; I will continue them next week. I will meet with every partner who worked on the Polish mission — on the part of the European Space Agency, NASA, Axiom SpaceX, with Hungarian and Indian agencies. All this to discuss what can be improved, how to build future programmes to catch this unique knowledge today, at this point, and implement it for the next mission, perhaps for the next country, and perhaps also for us,” he said.

The experience from the AX-4 mission, he added, would support future astronaut training and help organize future missions more efficiently and cost-effectively.

He also addressed the public interest his mission has generated. “These are the first days after returning; it is hard for me to say what the future will look like. But I am glad that there is interest in space. I have dozens, thousands of messages — invitations from schools, messages from children, students who are interested in space, how to become an astronaut, how to build space equipment. This is interest I hope we will keep as long as possible.”

Asked how he would respond to conspiracy theorists who deny that he went to space, Uznański-Wiśniewski said: “I went to space. I was at the International Space Station. I do not know if I can convince someone who does not want to be convinced.

“The discussion around what today's science and technology look like is incredibly important, but sometimes science is so complicated that it is difficult for us to understand exactly how it works.

“However, I will do everything on my part to educate and promote science as it is: objective, observable, and measurable.”

PAP - Science in Poland, Anna Bugajska (PAP)

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