Background

Mirosław Hermaszewski was born into a Polish family in Lipniki, formerly in the Wołyń Voivodeship of Poland, but at the time part of Reichskommissariat Ukraine, and since the end of the Second World War in Ukraine. He is a survivor of the Volhynian massacres during which Ukrainian nationalists murdered 19 members of his family, including his father. Hermaszewski narrowly escaped death himself when the Ukrainian Insurgent Army attacked Lipniki on the night of 26–27 March 1943. After the incorporation of former Polish territory into the Ukrainian SSR at the end of the war, what was left of Hermaszewski's family were deported to Wołów near Wrocław, where he completed elementary and high school.

Education

A 1965 graduate of the military pilot school in Deblin, Hermaszewski entered the Polish air force and in 1971 graduated from the Karol Sverchevski Military Academy.

Career

In 1976 he was selected from a pool of 500 pilots to participate in the Soviet Union’s Intercosmos program. The non-Soviet cosmonauts of Intercosmos flew alongside Soviet crews on missions intended to demonstrate unity between Warsaw Pact and other countries sympathetic to the Soviet Union. Hermaszewski’s was the second Intercosmos mission, launched on June 27, 1978.

Achievements

• Polish pilot who was the first Pole in space.
  
  Hermaszewski became one of only a handful of non-Soviets to be named a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Membership

Space Research Committee of Polish Academy, of Sciences 1978-: associate, Mil. Technological Academy, and Mil. Institute of Aviation Medicine.

Mil. Council of National Salvation 1981-1983. Polish Youth Union and Socialist Youth Union. Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) since 1963.

Interests

• Literature, communion with nature.

Connections

He is married and has two children.

Wife:

Emilia Hermaszewska

Son:

Miroslaw

Daughter:

Emilia