Miroslaw Hermaszewski
1st Polish Cosmonaut
Click here for over 30 pages of images.
More info on Hermaszewski here and here. He was born in Lipniki, Wolynian Voivodship, a survivor of the Volhynian massacres (and here), where 19 members of his family were murdered by Ukranian nationalists, including his father. My father was born in Przemysl, Poland (and here) 35.5km to the west of Lipniki. Lipniki is now in the Ukraine. (Lipniki is in turn 210km to the west of Poczajow where my mother Maria was born in 1933. I greatly appreciate her encouragement and support of my interest in music. You know you have a good mother if she buys you a drum kit! My grandfather, Frank Arowicz, who spoke Polish, Russian and Ukranian, as you would expect living near the border, was born in Brody, 173km to the east of Lipniki. He worked as a Forest Ranger (Lesniczy) in nearby villages like Suraz, playing accordian and harmonica at parties at the local farmhouses. He met my grandmother in the village of Teremne 289km east of Lipniki, near Krzemieniec (and here and here, birthplace of famous Polish poet Juliusz Slowacki). Frank's sister Genia was a teacher here, and her husband, Felix Oltarzewski, was a director of The Liceum. Read more about their persecution, thanks to Stalin, and eventual immigration to Australia as refugees about 3/4 of the way down the About Andy Section and below in relation to the Katyn Massacres. The books Slaves in Paradise and Stolen Childhood document this journey). Hermaszewski, despite coming from this politically unstable area, became the 1st Pole in Space, spending 7 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes and 59 seconds on the Soyuz 30 as a research cosmonaut. No mean effort considering his origins. A Lonely Cosmonaut.
- Click here for info on Sophia Turkiewicz's award winning film "Once my Mother" which closely parallels my mother Maria's journey during WW2. A great film
- Click here for the Kresy Siberia Virtual Museum. It is a site dedicated to Poland's citizens fighting for freedom and survival against Soviet and German invaders in eastern Poland and in forced exile during World War 2
- Click here for info on the Katyn Massacres.
- Click here for the movie "My friend the enemy" trailer about the Ukrainian massacres of the Poles
- Click here for an interview with maker of the movie Wanda Koscia
His days in Space stressed Life Sciences, Earth observations and a study of the Aurora Borealis. More images here
In space on the Soyuz 30 from 27th June 1978 until 5th July 1978 docking with Salyut 6. Info on Klimuk here
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Bronze Aerospace medal 80mm in diameter
The Interkosmos Program began in 1967 in the Soviet Union as a way of promoting Internationalism. Countries like Poland without a space program of their own could be included in space missions. Click the link to find out more.
I thought he looked a bit like Dr. Smith from "Lost in Space" in this photo. Click on this great tribute here. I had to get a reference to this show somehow in The Lonely Cosmonauts section. The show had a great theme songs here
Signed photo and postcards
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Click here for the Soyuz 30 landing capsule at the Museum of Polish Military Technology along with the heatshield
Click here for info on a documentary about the mission
With their families circa 1978
A final wave from the Glove he used in the mission
Click here for some background on Mikolaj Kopernik the famous Polish astronomer
Click here for more images of Poczajow
Satellite maps of Poczajow. The terrain is typical of that found near Lipniki, the birthplace of Hermaszewski
The house where my mother was born in Poczajow.
Her father, Frank, with fellow forest workers (lesniczy), is 4th from the left (circa 1933)
Her father, Frank, with fellow forest workers (lesniczy), is 4th from the left (circa 1933)
The famous Lawra or Monastery in Poczajow
Krzemieniec (circa 1930's)
Books
Above is part of the passenger list of the ship which brought my mother's family from Africa to Fremantle, The General Langfitt, taken from the book below. It arrived in Fremantle on Feb 14, 1950 (click here). From there, they went to Kalgoorlie until 1956 and then finally settled in Adelaide. This book does a lot to document their journey from 1940 till 1950. "Hrowicz" in the list above is obviously mispelt. It should be Arowicz. Halina should not be there on the list as she died in 1937 as a 7 year old of cholera in Poczajow. Basia should be listed, being born in 1947 at the Tengeru camp. She died on 3rd May, 2007. Zbigniew was born in 1936 in Poczajow Poland and died in Adelaide on 18 July 1956. My Grandfather Franciszek died on June 23 1991 and Grandmother Anna on 23 October 1980 both in Adelaide.
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Click here for more info
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The books above also document my family's journey from this politically unstable region.
Click here for the Kresy - Siberia Virtual Museum