FM: Hungary, Russia sign letter of intent on space research cooperation

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, and Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, director general of Russia’s state space research agency Roscosmos, have signed a letter of intent on continuing bilateral cooperation in the field of space research for peaceful purposes, the Hungarian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The document was signed as a follow-up to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Feb. 1 visit to Moscow, the ministry said in a statement.

Hungary and Russia have developed effective cooperation in space research for peaceful purposes over the past fifty years, the ministry said, adding that as a member of the European Space Agency, Hungary aims to maintain extensive and balanced cooperation with its foreign partners.

The ministry noted that three joint space research technology development programmes have been launched over the past three years with the involvement of Hungarian and Russian research institutions, universities and companies.

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Representatives of the two countries’ governments soon are set to sign an agreement on allocating additional resources and instruments required for the further successful cooperation of their researchers in the implementation of those three joint projects, the statement said.

Another prospective area of bilateral cooperation would be ensuring that Hungary sends a second astronaut on a space mission, the ministry said, noting that Hungary was the seventh country to send its own man to space in 1980 under Russia’s Intercosmos programme.

“We are proud that Hungarian technologies developed as a result of that space mission still serve the safety of astronauts in the Russian module of the International Space Station,” the ministry said.