Greece's first astronaut is heading to the International Space Station within the next two years. Adrianos Golemis, a 39...

Greece's first astronaut is heading to the International Space Station within the next two years. Adrianos Golemis, a 39-year-old doctor from Larissa, has completed his astronaut training and is preparing for a mission that will last up to three weeks. Golemis spoke to Skai about the physical and mental demands of the training, describing one exercise where trainees are locked inside a helicopter simulator that drops into a pool and spins. You have to stay calm, attach an oxygen tube, open a window, unclip your seatbelt, and get yourself out. His background is unlike most astronaut candidates. Before training for spaceflight, he spent a year in Antarctica studying the effects of isolation, and worked for years as a flight surgeon at the European Astronaut Centre, helping prepare and support other crews heading to orbit. He says that experience living through Antarctic isolation helped him understand what astronauts face in space, including the lack of gravity, the radiation exposure, and the psychological weight of being cut off from the world. Golemis was also part of the team that handled an unexpected thrombosis case in an otherwise healthy astronaut, a medical event that ended up advancing how hospitals treat similar patients on the ground. He met with the Greek Prime Minister hours before his Skai interview. The mission is expected to launch within the next two years, according to Skai. #Greece #Space #ISS