Polish contribution to space research

A short historical description of Polish contribution to astronomy and rocket technology is given. Then Polish activities in field of space exploration, such as instrument designed and build in Poland and placed on board of rockets, satellites and space probes during last 50 years are described. Contributions of the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences as well as astronomical discoveries made by Polish astrophysicists are presented. Most important missions in which instruments build in Poland were placed on board are among others: Mars Express and Venus Express, Cassini-Huygens, Rosetta and Integral. Among numerous discoveries made by Polish astrophysicists, one should mention the discovery and proper identification of powerful burst from magnetar SGR 1806-20 and the discovery of unusually rapid bursts from black hole Cyg X-1.