The date of Sławosz Uznański’s flight has yet to be finalized. It was originally scheduled for this fall but has been delayed, Poland’s state news agency PAP reported in May. However, Poland’s first man in space since Mirosław Hermaszewski went into orbit in 1978 already knows what he will be doing. He has a list of experiments he is to conduct in the ISS’s laboratory, the results of which may be of significance for future missions.

Two of the experiments will be related to biology, and to prepare for his tasks, Uznański has traveled to a German Space Agency (DLR) laboratory in Cologne that is modeled on the one on the ISS. All experiments conducted on the ISS must be fully prepared beforehand in a process carefully monitored by European labs and the European Space Agency.

“The biological laboratory at the German Space Agency is exactly the same as the one located on the International Space Station,” Jerzy Żywicki, who has worked at the DLR for more than 20 years, was quoted by Science in Poland as saying. “Astronauts learn how to use individual devices in the laboratory before they go to the ISS.”

DLR staff at the Cologne center are in round-the-clock contact with astronauts aboard the ISS to help them with every step of an experiment.

“We know exactly what a specific astronaut will be doing at what time and what experiment they will be involved in,” Żywicki said. “We also know when they will sleep.”