{"id":572668,"date":"2026-03-29T19:27:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T19:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572668\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T19:27:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T19:27:29","slug":"andrianos-golemis-to-become-the-first-ever-greek-astronaut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572668\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrianos Golemis to Become the First Ever Greek Astronaut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdrianosAdrianos Golemis, a doctor for the European Space Agency, has become the first Greek to pass the organization\u2019s test to become an astronaut. Credit: NASA Johnson. CC BY 2.0\/flickr<\/a><\/p>\n

Adrianos Golemis, who previously worked as a doctor for the European Space Agency, will be the first Greek to enter ESA\u2019s astronaut-training program, Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said on Monday.<\/p>\n

The medic has worked at ESA studying how long missions affect astronauts\u2019 bodies. His astronaut training begins in April with a three-month introduction to life and research on the International Space Station. He will later start a year-long intensive program when Greece<\/a> decides to send an astronaut on a research mission.<\/p>\n

Golemis said the program gives Greece its first representation in ESA astronaut training and strengthens ties between the Greek aerospace sector and Europe. \u201cAny research we carry out for astronauts and any technology we develop for space, the aim is to return it to Greece,\u201d he said, noting microsatellites as a key example.<\/p>\n

\"first<\/p>\n

Adrianos Golemis at a press conference in Athens. Credit: AMNA\/Alexandros Vlachos<\/p>\n

Every year, around 22,500 hopefuls apply for the European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA) exams to become an astronaut, and each year only 25 are selected to progress through the three rounds of basic training, advanced training, and mission-specific training.<\/p>\n

Golemis passed the exams after years working for the agency<\/a> as a doctor. \u201cWhen I was younger, I used to think that the job I\u2019m doing now, that is, an astronaut doctor\u2026is something exotic, [and] it\u2019s not for Greeks,\u201d he revealed. He used to think of the job as one limited to geniuses.<\/p>\n

However, he said in speaking to Euronews, \u201cThis is not the case. Effort, persistence and of course an inclination\u201d are what is needed.<\/p>\n

First ESA Greek astronaut is a space flight surgeon<\/p>\n

Speaking as a space flight surgeon, Golemis related the effects that being in space can have on the body. \u201cOur bodies are made, [and] evolutionarily adapted in an impressive way to perform on earth. When we leave the earth, where there is gravity and all the protection of our planet<\/a>, we are exposed to new dangers, so a body that is made to perform a lot on earth is taken out of the earth and suffers, at least for a few days,\u201d he told Euronews.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we have nausea, vomiting, all these symptoms that we expect and know,\u201d he said. \u201cWe see that astronauts who stay in space for six months or more usually develop some vision problems [which]\u2026some overcome\u2026on earth. For some it may last a life time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Astronauts spend half of their careers in training. Immediately after recruitment, they undergo a one-year basic training at their duty station, the European Astronaut Centre.<\/p>\n

The European Space Agency website says:<\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming an ESA astronaut is extremely competitive. The last call for ESA astronauts took place in 2021. Once selected, ESA astronauts typically complete a minimum of three to four years of training before flying to space for the first time. ESA\u2019s astronaut training is coordinated and implemented by the Astronaut Training Team based at EAC. The first phase for any successful astronaut candidate is known as basic training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBasic training takes 12 months. During this time, astronaut candidates are introduced to the fundamentals of spaceflight, gain a detailed overview of all Space Station systems and transportation vehicles such as US commercial crew vehicles (SpaceX<\/a> and Boeing<\/a>), complete survival training, practice how to conduct a spacewalk and start learning special skills like Russian language, robotic operations and spacecraft rendezvous and docking.\u201d<\/p>\n

As can be inferred, ESA training for potential astronauts is especially rigorous. Golemis\u2019 achievement is thus nothing short of impressive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adrianos Golemis, a doctor for the European Space Agency, has become the first Greek to pass the organization\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[44827,64,63,9776,3898,280956,1679,128,285],"class_list":["post-572668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astronaut","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-european-space-agency","tag-greece","tag-greek-astronaut","tag-medicine","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}