”Cosmos – dreams, reality” – A meeting with Mirosław Hermaszewski

At the University of Environmental and Life Sciences, General Hermaszewski was welcomed by Prof. Bożena Patkowska-Sokoła, Rector prof. Roman Kołacz and prof. Zbigniew Dobrzański, who in his introductory speech encouraged a large audience to change its perspective from earthly to cosmic.

“At this small pale blue point indicated by professor Dobrzański, is also the University of Environmental and Life Sciences” – said General Mirosław Hermaszewski greeting the audience, which was surprised by the General’s knowledge of Linnaean taxonomy ... in Latin.

In his engrossing two-hour lecture, General Hermaszewski talked about the preparations for a space flight within the international Interkosmos program. He told the inside story of the Sojuz 30 spaceship take off and life on the orbital station, Salyut 6. The audience learned what the general had “smuggled” onto the spaceship and what he had not told his wife before take off. Members of the audience saw slides not only of unique photos of “the blue planet” and schemes of space shuttles taking astronauts into outer space but also photos showing the actual equipment used for relieving oneself in a weightless environment.

The history of astronauts in the words and pictures of the first Polish space observer) was presented with humour and colour. The audience reflected on the fate of those who lost their lives to the space race.

At the end of the meeting General Hermaszewski said, “It is most important nowadays to realize that the people who fly into space are no longer Americans, Russians or Chinese but Earthlings. The dream of seeing our planet from outer space can be realized by nearly everyone. John Glenn, the first American pilot and astronaut, flew into space again when he was 77, so I still have many years of hope.”

The meeting, organized by the Faculty of Biology and Animal Science of the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław, the Polish Society of Animal Production, the Commission of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics and Engineering of Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw, the Polish Military Chemists Association, the Polish Chemical Society and the Society for Biology of Reproduction, also promoted a book “The Burden of Weightlessness – The Story of a Pilot Astronaut”, which enjoyed great popularity, not everyone managing to secure a copy.