Preparations Well Underway for the Hungarian Astronauts’ Mission

Preparations for Axiom Space’s Ax-4 mission, to be led by experienced US astronaut Peggy Whitson, have started for the Hungarian astronaut and his reserve.

As reported by Hungary Today, Axiom Space officially announced last Monday that it will send one astronaut each from Hungary, Poland – with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) – and India to the International Space Station on its next mission, Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4). In addition to the US mission commander Peggy Whitson, the crew will include Tibor Kapu from Hungary, Slawosz Uznanski from Poland, and Shubhanshu Shukla from India. Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu and his reserve Gyula Cserényi arrived to Houston for their training last week.

The Hungarian astronauts were announced in May this year. A total of 240 people applied for the mission, of which the list was later narrowed down to 4 candidates. The candidates underwent extensive training and tests, and the selected astronaut and his reserve were named this spring. Hungary will send the second person into space in 44 years. The country’s first astronaut was Bertalan Farkas, who recently celebrated his 75th birthday.

As the most recent post on the Hungarian space program’s social media page reads, the first day of training included key information about the mission.

The experts from the different departments of Axiom Space were introduced, who will assist the astronauts not only during the training, but also during the launch.

Speaking on the M1 news channel on Monday, the ministerial commissioner for space research said that Hungary is in an exceptional position, because it is a rarity that the astronaut reserve is also from the same country. According to Orsolya Ferencz, the Hungarian astronauts are already learning how to use their future spacecraft and the technical equipment of the space station in the United States, and their personalized space suit is also being designed.

The ministerial commissioner stressed that one of the most important values of the program is its national focus,

giving Hungarian companies, universities and research centers the opportunity to develop their own experiments, especially in the fields of physiology, radiation biology and materials technology, during the preparation period.

She also pointed out that the ESA has made education a focus of the program, with the aim of turning young people’s attention to the natural sciences and space research. She noted that the success of the initiative was demonstrated by the popularity of the rocket and space device building camp held in Baja (southern Hungary) at the weekend.

Orsolya Ferencz recalled that Hungary has a strong history in space research, with Hungarian universities and research centers organizing programs in this field since 1946. She stressed that space technology is now part of everyday life, and that experts are now using satellite data to a large extent to assess drought damage.

Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/HUNOR – Magyar Űrhajós Program