Ax-3 Mission Astronaut: Sławosz Has Key Qualities for Any Space Crew

Marcus Wandt is a Swedish astronaut who, along with Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, was selected by the European Space Agency for a space flight under the Axiom program. He spent over three weeks in space during the Axiom-3 mission, which preceded the Pole's flight.

Polish Press Agency: You and Sławosz competed in the Axiom program selection process. There were over 20,000 of you, and only 17 were supposed to remain. What did you have to do and what did you have to be like to be selected?

Marcus Wandt: Sławosz and I were among over 22,000 candidates who applied for the Axiom 3 and 4 missions. Each of us had undergone a year and a half of every possible test. Our health, body, and agility were examined. Thousands of tests of memory, logical thinking, resistance to extreme stress, and teamwork. At each stage, one person was eliminated. We only got to interview when only 25 of us remained. In fact, only then did we have time to get to know each other better. The fact that I would be selected for the first crew was completely unbelievable to me.

PAP: You were a military pilot. Do you think this experience helped you?

MW: I was a fighter pilot. I flew several combat missions over Libya. Then I came to the US to study for the US Navy's test pilots. A few years before applying to the European Space Agency, I started testing new aircraft at SAAB. If you look at "our class," we have military pilots, test pilots, and scientists. What unites us is our education. We all have degrees in science or technology, and each of us works well in a small team. We also each have expeditionary experience in difficult or isolated environments. So, if you're a Gripen test pilot (a Swedish fighter aircraft - PAP), you have the same chance of flying into space as, say, a meteorologist who wintered at a scientific base in Svalbard. On the ISS, much less on a spacecraft, there's no room for intimacy. We spend every single minute together and have to put up with each other.

PAP: Does the ESA astronaut know who he will fly into space with?

MW: Quite the opposite. Especially as an astronaut from Europe, you rarely know which crew you'll join. The team might include colleagues from NASA, Roscosmos, or the Japanese agency JAXA. Team members are selected to ensure the best possible performance. Only when the crew is aligned does it begin to form a single entity. We undergo joint training on the Dragon spacecraft, Falcon rocket simulators, and memorize the ISS.

PAP: So the most important thing is procedures.

MW: Exactly. Because you don't know who you'll encounter, perfect knowledge of thousands of procedures ensures safe and efficient operation, both during the flight and during your stay on the station and return to Earth. If an astronaut faces a task, a challenge, or even the most mundane activity, there's a procedure for it. You open the catalog, find the appropriate chapter, and, reading step by step, you reach the intended conclusion.

PAP: Even for "farting"?

MW: Hahaha! You caught me. There's no protocol for "farting." If you feel the urge, you just do it, and your colleagues on the ship or station have to put up with it. I wouldn't worry too much, though, as we've proven ourselves in far more embarrassing situations many times.

PAP: In the toilet?

MW: This is probably the only place on the entire International Space Station where you can be alone with yourself for a moment. True, the team members are a few feet away from you, but behind a wall and a closed door. But we already have procedures for what happens behind those doors, which we've practiced dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

PAP: Tight?

MW: Everything on the ISS is small and cramped, but because there's no gravity in orbit, the space occupied becomes irrelevant. Volume and the three dimensions in which we function become more important. Each crew member even has their own bed, which doesn't have to be horizontal—as on Earth. You can sleep perfectly well standing up. In this respect, we're much more comfortable than sailors on submarines, who often share a bunk, sleeping in turns with another crew member.

PAP: You met Sławosz. What do you remember best about our preparations together?

MW: First, we all had to learn how to pronounce his name correctly. Mine is simple, and we're not characters from "Top Gun" to use nicknames like "Maverick" or "Goose." Now, every crew member and mission controller can handle him perfectly, though it's certainly not easy—no, it's not. I feel like Sławosz and I have something in common. I felt it the first moment we met. It's a similar kind of energy. We're both open, cheerful, and smiling. Sławosz has a great quality that I admire—he can be incredibly serious and focused, giving the impression that he doesn't take himself or his mission so seriously. He has a detached demeanor and brings a lot of calm. This is a particularly valuable skill for any team.

Mieszko Czarnecki (PAP)

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