Uznański-Wiśniewski: We will benefit from the IGNIS mission in the coming months and years

Scientific, technological, educational, and communication experiments as part of the IGNIS mission took 105 hours of work on the ISS. We will benefit from the mission's scientific results in the coming months and even years, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski said during Friday's press conference of the Ax-4 mission crew.

Friday's media briefing of the Ax-4 mission crew, conducted from Houston, USA, was the first since the mission ended in mid-July.

Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski said that the Polish IGNIS mission was accomplished thanks to the work of over 500 people. "We spent 18 days on the International Space Station, completing 288 orbits around the planet. Scientific, technological, educational, and communication experiments took 105 hours," he calculated during the conference.

On the ISS, the Polish astronaut had to perform 13 experiments prepared by Polish scientists and companies, as well as 30 educational and popular science demonstrations. Among them was the first in-orbit test of a brain-computer interface.

"We also tested nanomaterials and sensors, which have already been returned to Earth and will soon be sent to Poland for further analysis. We installed artificial intelligence algorithms in the orbital environment, which will remain on the ISS for the coming months," he noted. "We will draw on this mission and its scientific results in the coming months and even years, having access to this data. I also hope that in the long run, the mission will inspire children and students who will dedicate themselves to science, technology, and learning."

"I want to thank everyone for the thousands of messages, all the questions, and the interviews after the mission. There are still many more, and I look forward to meeting with you in the coming months," he emphasized.

He noted that carrying out a space mission requires the involvement of many people who prepare it, including from the scientific perspective, so that everything works well in space. "I'm truly grateful and proud of what we've achieved, of the work of the research teams on Earth. This shows that the hard work done on Earth pays off in space," he noted.

The Ax-4 mission, which included his participation, began on June 25. In addition to the Pole, it included American Peggy Whitson, Hungarian Tibor Kapu, and Indian pilot Shubhanshu Shukla. On June 26, the Dragon Grace capsule docked with the ISS carrying four astronauts.

The Ax-4 crew spent a total of 20 days in space (including the trip to and from the ISS). They returned to Earth on July 15. Since July 16, Uznański-Wiśniewski has been in Cologne, undergoing rehabilitation at the German Aeronautics and Space Center. (PAP)

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