Astronaut
As a 20th-century astronaut you would be among a few hundred people ever to leave the Earth – after years of training for a ride on top of a controlled explosion.
The first to fly
The space age began with Sputnik in October 1957. On 12 April 1961 the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting Earth once in Vostok 1 in about 108 minutes. Valentina Tereshkova followed as the first woman in 1963. The American Apollo programme landed people on the Moon in July 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on its surface; by 1972, twelve astronauts had done so. Later came space stations – Salyut, Skylab, Mir – and from 1981 the reusable Space Shuttle.
Selection and training
Early astronauts and cosmonauts were mostly military test pilots, chosen for flying skill, health, small enough size to fit tiny capsules, and calm under pressure. Training included centrifuge runs to simulate launch g-forces, parabolic flights for brief weightlessness, survival training for landings in sea, desert or forest, and endless simulator hours. In orbit, weightlessness makes fluids shift to the head, muscles and bones weaken without exercise, and simple tasks like eating, washing and sleeping need new techniques.
Risk and a Polish first
Spaceflight was dangerous. The Apollo 1 fire in 1967 killed three astronauts on the launch pad; Soyuz 11’s crew died in 1971 when their capsule depressurised; Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch in 1986.
Under the Soviet Interkosmos programme, cosmonauts from allied countries flew to Soviet stations. On 27 June 1978 Mirosław Hermaszewski, a Polish Air Force pilot, launched on Soyuz 30 to the Salyut 6 station, becoming the first – and for decades the only – Pole in space. His flight lasted almost eight days. The next Polish astronaut, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, flew to the International Space Station in 2025.
