Axiom Space’s Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts, one of whom was Hungarian Tibor Kapu, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, near San Diego at around 11:31 a.m Hungary time on Tuesday. This marked the end of the Ax-4 mission to the International Space Station, which started on 25 June following several delays.
Tibor Kapu was selected from among 240 Hungarian applicants in the spring of 2024 and has since undergone extensive training in preparation for this mission. Prior to becoming Hungary’s second astronaut,(not counting the space tourist of Hungarian descent, Charles Simonyi) the 33-year old development engineer has mostly worked in the automotive industry, focusing on battery development. Kapu's mission commander was Peggy Whitson, one of the most experienced American astronauts, and the team also included Indian Air Fore (IAF) pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, a Polish scientist and engineer.
They spent eighteen days at the ISS, during which they carried out sixty scientific experiments and research projects from 31 countries, of which Kapu was responsible for conducting nineteen. The experiments Kapu was responsible for were from various fields, ranging from materials science and space technology research to biological tests.
He sent a message to Hungarians before and after docking at the ISS, and while there, he held a press conference, answered high schoolers' questions, spoke with young ham radio users, and even taught a physics lesson.
In his last message sent to Hungarians from the ISS, Tibor Kapu said: "Although my access to news from home has been very limited over the past three weeks, I've heard that a lot has happened and a lot has changed". Then he added that if he were to describe all that went on at the space station during this same time, he would summarize it as: a great deal of work, a great deal of science, ideas, and perseverance all aimed at making the program a success.
"In these past few weeks, Hungary has made its way back onto the map of space, and believe me, it's clearly visible from up here,"
he added, noting that during this time, the country has made years' worth of progress in fields such as biology, dosimetry, nutrition science, and product development.
It was in 2021 that Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungary would soon be sending an astronaut into space. Shortly afterwards, the Hungarian government approved the launch of a $99 million (approximately 30 billion forints) space industry development program.
The HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit) project, which includes Tibor Kapu’s mission is just one part of this. HUNOR was implemented in collaboration with NASA partner Axiom Space. The main focus of the program is to enable Hungary to participate in the ecosystem that experts are calling Space Industry 2.0.
The first Hungarian to travel to space was Bertalan Farkas, who made the trip aboard the Soyuz-36 in 1980.
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