Mirosław Hermaszewski was born on 15 September 1941 in Lipniki, then part of the Wolynian Voivodeship (now Ukraine). He graduated from the Polish Air Force Officer School in Dęblin in 1965, continued his education at the Karol Świerczewski Military Academy in Warsaw in 1971, and later at the Voroshilov Military Academy in Moscow in 1982. In November 1976, Hermaszewski was selected from nearly 500 Polish pilots to join the Soviet-led Interkosmos program. He launched aboard Soyuz 30 on 27 June 1978 with Soviet cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk, spending 7 days, 22 hours, and 2 minutes in space, during which he conducted scientific experiments, photographed Earth, and completed 126 orbits aboard the Salyut 6 space station. Hermaszewski remains Poland’s only astronaut. He passed away on 12 December 2022 in Warsaw at the age of 81, following complications from surgery.