Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, née Uznański (Polish: ; born 12 April 1984 in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

) is a Polish

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

working at the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(ESA) as a project

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

since 2023, and was formerly employed at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

Early life and education

Uznański was born in Łódź,

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

on 12 April, 1984 – the 23rd anniversary of

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

's first human orbital spaceflight. Every birthday, Uznański's mother would wish him "all the best wishes on Cosmonaut Day". Growing up in the 1980s, after Mirosław Hermaszewski's spaceflight in 1978, Uznański's childhood dream was to go to space. Sławosz Uznański was raised in Łódź, attending the 8th Adam Asnyk High School. In 2008, he graduated with honours with

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from the

Łódź University of Technology Łódź University of Technology () was created in 1945 and has developed into one of the biggest technical universities in Poland. Originally located in an old factory building, today it covers nearly 200,000 sq. meters in over 70 separate bu ...

and from the

University of Nantes Nantes University () is a public university located in the city of Nantes, France. In addition to the several campuses scattered in the city of Nantes, there are two satellite campuses located in Saint-Nazaire and La Roche-sur-Yon. The university ...

; in the same year also received

Diplôme d'Ingénieur The ''Diplôme d'Ingénieur'' (, often abbreviated as ''Dipl.Ing.'') is a postgraduate degree in engineering ''(see Engineer's Degrees in Europe)'' usually awarded by the '' Grandes Écoles'' in engineering. It is generally obtained after five to ...

from the Polytech Nantes. In 2011, he received a

doctor's degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''Licentiate (degree), licentia docendi' ...

with distinction from the University of the Mediterranean Aix-Marseille II for thesis on radiation-tolerant designs for space applications.

Career

During his doctorate, he worked at

STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics Naamloze vennootschap, NV (commonly referred to as ST or STMicro) is a European multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the largest of such companies in Europe. ...

manufacturing facility in

Crolles Crolles () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is located in the Isère valley, 20 km northeast of Grenoble, upstream on the river Isère. It has given its name to the Dent de Crolles mountain (2,062 m), whic ...

, France. In 2011, he joined the

European Organization for Nuclear Research European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other We ...

(CERN) in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. In 2013, he was appointed as a project lead and senior reliability engineer at CERN. From 2018 to 2020, he was an Engineer in Charge of the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists, ...

. In 2019, he was a technical expert and reviewer for

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

programme; investigating European autonomy and technological competitiveness in the

space industry Space industry refers to economic activities related to manufacturing components that go into outer space (Earth's orbit or beyond), delivering them to those regions, and related services. Owing to the prominence of satellite-related activiti ...

for

European Research Executive Agency The European Research Executive Agency'' COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2021/173 of 12 February 2021 establishing the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, the European Health and Digital Executive Agency, the Eur ...

(REA). In November 2022, he was announced as a reserve astronaut by the European Astronaut Corps for the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group. In an interview, Uznański revealed that Mirosław Hermaszewski (Poland's first cosmonaut) supported him throughout the process and was the first person to call him with congratulations on the morning after he was selected. In August 2023, Poland's Development and Technology Minister, Waldemar Buda, announced that a Polish astronaut would fly to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) in 2024, adding that if the mission went ahead Poland would submit the candidature of Uznański, which in turn would have to be approved by the ESA and the American company

Axiom Space Axiom Space, Inc., also known as Axiom Space, is an American privately funded space infrastructure developer headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2016 by former CEO Michael T. Suffredini and Kam Ghaffarian, the company first flew a spa ...

. Uznański was accepted and is set to become the second Pole to go into space after Mirosław Hermaszewski's 1978 flight with

Soyuz 30 Soyuz 30 (, ''Union 30'') was a 1978 crewed Soviet space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the sixth mission to and fifth successful docking at the orbiting facility. The Soyuz 30 crew were the first to visit the long-duration Soyuz 2 ...

. He joined the ESA to undergo his training for Axiom Mission 4 on 1 September 2023, It was expected to launch no earlier than April 2025. Onboard the

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which consi ...

that will take the mission to the ISS, Uznański will bring the same Polish flag that flew to space in 1978 attached to Hermaszewski's

spacesuit A space suit (or spacesuit) is an environmental suit used for protection from the harsh Space environment, environment of outer space, mainly from its Vacuum (outer space), vacuum as a highly specialized pressure suit, but also its temperatu ...

as well as the Polish national dish of

pierogi Pierogi ( ; ) are filled dumplings made by wrapping Leavening, unleavened dough around a Stuffing, filling and cooked in boiling water. They are occasionally flavored with a savory or sweet garnish. Typical fillings include potato, cheese, ...

. His mission is named ''Ignis''. Uznański-Wiśniewski's flight was delayed several times between May and June 2025 for a number of reasons, including unfavourable weather, excessively strong winds in the upper parts of the atmosphere within the flight corridor of the rocket, problems with the Dragon capsule, and a fuel leak detected only a several dozen hours before one of the planned start dates on 10 June. Currently, he is set to fly no earlier than 19 June.

Personal life

In 2025, he married Aleksandra Uznańska-Wiśniewska, a politician, political scientist, humanitarian and social activist.

References

External links

Biography
- ESA website 1984 births European Space Agency personnel Living people Łódź University of Technology alumni People associated with CERN Polish aerospace engineers People from Łódź Engineers from Łódź Scientists from Łódź Polish astronauts {{Commons category