Poland’s 2nd astronaut brings pierogi to the ISS party

Here's hoping freeze-dried Polish dumplings are just as good as ones freshly fried in butter

When Axiom Space's fourth mission to the International Space Station arrives in orbit this spring it'll include Poland's second-ever astronaut, who will bring an essential comfort from home: Pierogi.

Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski made the crucial supply announcement at a press event held in Poland Wednesday, where Polish-speaking Associated Press reporters were on hand to translate such essential information. 

As veteran readers of El Reg may be familiar, the pieróg (plural pierogi, because who eats just one?) is a delicious dumpling filled with cheese, meat, potato, sauerkraut or berries if you'd prefer a sweeter alternative. If you haven't had the joy of growing up around Polish culture and never tasted pierogi—boiled or fried, with onions and/or sour cream—just know they matter enough to Uznański to bring them on a space mission lasting over two weeks.

Yeah, they are that good - hopefully even freeze-dried, since that's the way to ensure safe consumption in zero gravity.

Terrestrially-bound pierogi from the kitchen of your humble vulture - Click to enlarge

Sure, Poland's planned second person in space (its first since 1978) is bringing along other important artifacts of personal and cultural relevance, like poems by Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska, music by Frédéric Chopin, some amber and salt mined from his home country and the flag patch worn by the first Pole in space, Mirosław Hermaszewski. Those pierogi are surely the most important item, we would assume.

The other members of the Axiom 4 crew have their own mementos. Mission commander Peggy Whitson, a retired US astronaut and the record holder for most time in space by an American woman, will be bringing family photos and the necklace she wore during her wedding. Tibor Kapu, the third Hungarian in space and second official astronaut, with Hungarian software developer Charles Simonyi flying as a tourist in 2007, will bring a Hungarian flag and family photos, AP said. 

Mission pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, who will become India's second astronaut, couldn't attend the event at Warsaw's Copernicus Science Center, so it's not known what he plans to bring along. Given the other personal payloads, one hopes he'll pack some samosas for a freeze-dried intercultural dumpling exchange.

Axiom Mission 4 not just delivering takeout

While it's a privately operated spaceflight, Axiom's fourth orbital mission isn't just a tourist operation. Aside from Whitson, who serves as Axiom's director of human space flight, Uznański-Wiśniewski, Kapu, and Shukla are all astronauts of their respective national space programs, with Uznański-Wiśniewski doing double duty as a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut.

In other words, they'll have work to do up there.

While on the ISS for two weeks, the Ax-4 crew will be continuing research carried out by prior Axiom missions, conducting work for the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) - a NASA-funded research consortium led by Baylor College, and investigating bone health for the ESA.

The TRISH program is looking at a number of astronaut health biomarkers, including cognitive performance, gene expression changes, spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome and more. 

Depending on when the Ax-4 mission launches, the Axiom crew might cross paths with stranded NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The pair, who flew to the ISS on the ill-fated Boeing Starliner in June 2024, have been stuck in space since, as their craft was deemed unsafe for manned return. The most recent update to the duo's planned return had them coming home no earlier than late March, though the latest documents we've seen suggest they might not make it home before April. 

Well, if they can't get a lift, at least there's some good food on the way. ®