Hungarian Conservative

During the mission, the Hungarian research astronaut will spend 14 days aboard the International Space Station, conducting scientific experiments that will not only benefit the domestic space sector but also position Hungary competitively on the international stage in one of the 21st century’s most rapidly developing industries.

Hungary’s ministerial commissioner for space research Dr Orsolya Ferencz highlighted the need for a common EU strategy and regulation to stay competitive with the United States or China at a conference in the Hungarian Parliament.

Hungary was able to launch its national astronaut programme, Hunor, thanks to the cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (KKM) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Under this programme, the Hungarian astronaut will carry out national projects on the International Space Station.

Albeit on Monday the public was informed that only Tibor Kapu and Gyula Cserényi have been selected as the astronauts for the programme, the other two candidates who had been included in the final round of selection, clinical orthopaedic surgeon Ádám Schlégl and aerospace design engineer András Szakály, will nonetheless assist with the work of the HUNOR mission in leading positions on the staff of the mission’s ground-based control centre. As for Kapu and Cserényi, they will soon be sent to the United States, where they will undergo the final phase of their training, supervised and assisted by the US space agency NASA and the private company Axiom Space, Hungary’s international space exploration partners.

On Thursday, the first commercial space mission composed exclusively of European astronauts was launched. In partnership with the Texas-based startup Axiom Space, Hungary will soon have the opportunity to send a man into space again.