Hungarian President Katalin Novák and Ministerial Commissioner Orsolya Ferencz with the candidates, Gyula Cserényi, Ádám Schlégl, Tibor Kapu and András Szakály (Photo: Sándor Palace)
Domokos Zováthi
24/01/2024 12:17
Orsolya Ferencz, Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, announced in March 2023 that one of the four astronaut candidates under the Hunor Hungarian Astronaut Programme will join the ESA-accredited crew of astronauts on board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in late 2024 or early 2025. The Hungarian astronaut will carry out research work, to which various Hungarian space industry players will contribute by designing experiments and providing the equipment needed to carry them out.
The astronaut candidates have undergone a rigorous selection process, which has resulted in the selection of four outstanding specialists in the following four fields from a large number of applicants (16 per cent of whom were women).
András Szakály, an aeronautical design engineer, stressed that the scientific potential of the programme could greatly help the work and research of domestic specialists in the long term. Ádám Schlégl, clinical orthopaedic surgeon, is confident that advances in the field of remote healing will be made that will allow more human lives to be saved as a result of research in space. Electrical engineer Gyula Cserényi appreciated the seriousness of the decision-making situations that arise when in space, adding that for him, the feeling of security comes from not being given an order that he would not carry out himself. Development Engineer Tibor Kapu said that they still have a lot of challenges ahead of them in the preparation, but they are all ready for it.
In September 2023, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó signed a contract in Texas with Axiom Space, a company that works closely with the US space agency (NASA), making another Hungarian space mission a certainty after Bertalan Farkas. Two of the four Hungarian astronaut candidates will be selected at the end of the year to continue their training in Houston.
But Hunor is not just about Hungary sending a researcher to the ISS: applications to enrich the scientific content of the Hunor Hungarian Astronaut Programme were open for research institutes, universities and companies. The programme website welcomes all proposals that can contribute to further enriching the scientific content of the programme.
The author is a journalist and editor
Hungarian space exploration and activities go back 75 years, starting with Zoltán Bay's famous lunar radar experiment. The golden age began with Bertalan Farkas's space flight in 1980, when space research groups were established at the major universities and research institutes in Budapest and the countryside. These groups achieved world-class results and laid the foundations for the framework of space research that still exists today.