A Greek space medicine specialist has been selected to become the country’s first astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), marking a milestone in the country’s efforts to establish a presence in human spaceflight and expand the meager domestic space industry.
Adrianos Golemis, a physician at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne is expected to travel to the orbiting laboratory within the next two years on a mission lasting up to three weeks, according to the government in Athens. The flight forms part of Greece’s National Space Strategy through 2035, unveiled this month, which aims to strengthen the country’s participation in Europe’s rapidly expanding space economy.
The mission is intended to carry scientific experiments and technology demonstrations proposed by Greek universities, research institutes and companies, giving domestic organizations the opportunity to validate technologies in microgravity while expanding international research partnerships.
The announcement follows the government’s recent presentation of the national strategy, which identifies satellite applications, space technologies and human spaceflight as pillars for developing a domestic ecosystem capable of generating high-value research, innovation and commercial opportunities.
Golemis graduated from the medical school of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki before completing a master of space studies at the International Space University in Strasbourg. In 2014, ESA selected him as the physician-researcher for the Concordia research station in Antarctica, where he spent a year studying the physiological and psychological effects of long-term isolation—an environment widely regarded as one of the closest terrestrial analogues to life aboard the ISS.
He later joined France’s Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES) before becoming an ESA flight physician in 2018. In that role, he has overseen astronauts’ medical preparation before launch, monitored their health during missions and supervised post-flight rehabilitation.
In 2022, Golemis became the first Greek national to successfully complete all six stages of ESA’s astronaut selection process. He is currently undergoing astronaut training between March and October 2026, covering ISS systems, robotics, spacecraft engineering, extravehicular activity simulations, operational safety and scientific communication.
The planned flight is expected to take place through a commercially procured short-duration mission, similar to arrangements pursued by several European countries in recent years using private providers in cooperation with ESA and national governments.
Nations including Sweden, Poland and Hungary have announced similar government-backed missions over the past two years, reflecting a broader shift toward public-private partnerships in low-Earth orbit as the ISS approaches the end of its operational life early in the next decade.
