Greek Astronaut Adrianos Golemis to Fly to Space in 2027

The news in Greek

1. διάστημα  (n.)
   Ο χώρος πέρα από την ατμόσφαιρα της Γης, όπου βρίσκονται τα άστρα και οι πλανήτες. ↩︎
2. ταξιδεύω
   Μετακινούμαι από έναν τόπο σε άλλον, συνήθως σε μεγάλη απόσταση. ↩︎
3. αποστολή  (f.)
   Μια οργανωμένη δραστηριότητα ή εργασία που έχει συγκεκριμένο σκοπό. ↩︎
4. διαρκώ
   Συνεχίζομαι για ένα ορισμένο χρονικό διάστημα. ↩︎
5. αστροναύτης  (m.)
   Άτομο που εκπαιδεύεται και ταξιδεύει στο διάστημα με διαστημόπλοιο. ↩︎
6. εμπνέω
   Δίνω σε κάποιον κίνητρο ή ιδέες για να κάνει κάτι σημαντικό. ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: What is Adrianos Golemis’s profession?

Question 2: How long will the mission last?

Vocabulary

Greek	English
διάστημα  (n.)	space
ταξιδεύω	to travel
αποστολή  (f.)	mission
διαρκώ	to last
αστροναύτης  (m.)	astronaut
εμπνέω	to inspire

Read the full story

Adrianos Golemis is set to become the first Greek person to leave Earth and travel to space, with his mission scheduled for July 2027. Speaking to Kathimerini from Toulouse, where he is currently based, Golemis will travel to the United States next week to begin the next phase of his astronaut training.

The mission will take Golemis to the International Space Station, where he and his crew will spend approximately two weeks at an altitude of between 370 and 420 kilometres above Earth. He described the upcoming short-duration missions as more intense than longer ones. “Short missions are richer, more concentrated,” he said.

Golemis is a doctor by profession and has previously worked in support roles for other astronauts, including as a medical professional during launches and recoveries. He also spent an entire year in complete isolation at the Concordia research station in Antarctica in 2014, as part of a simulation of the extreme conditions experienced in space.

His training will take place in California and Houston. The spacecraft will be provided by SpaceX, and training will also be conducted at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The mission commander is French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, whom Golemis has previously worked with as a doctor. The pilot is Aleš Svoboda from the Czech Republic. A fourth crew member has yet to be announced.

Part of the mission will be based on experiments designed by the Hellenic Space Centre, under the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance. Golemis paid tribute to Greek scientists and companies working in the space sector. “Greece has truly remarkable scientific personnel, as well as companies in these fields,” he said.

On a personal level, Golemis expressed a mixture of nerves and anticipation. “I have anxiety for the success of the endeavour, because it will be a success for Greece,” he said. He also urged Greeks to pursue their ambitions: “I consider it very important to encourage every Greek not only to fulfil such visions — to go to space — but to dare to pursue any dream one might have.”

After the mission, the crew is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean and then travel quickly to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, so that European scientists can gather valuable data on the astronauts’ physical recovery as swiftly as possible.