Hungarians in Space visitor center opens in Budapest

On Monday, A Hungarian will conduct research on the International Space Station, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said that the mission was a “truly great national goal”. Space visitor center opens in Budapest:

Inaugurating the “HUNIVERZUM – Hungarians in Space” visitor centre, he said all Hungarians could put their heart into supporting the mission, and many would have “tears in their eyes” to witness a Hungarian astronaut docking with the ISS and embarking on “vitally important work”.

With such an important national goal, Hungary “can think of itself as a truly strong, proud, successful and unified nation,” he added. Szijjártó noted the constant emergence of new and “decisive” industries, the space industry being one of the most cutting-edge and competitive. He added that countries that enter the fray “can gain an advantage … which is impossible to overestimate”.

Simply “getting involved” was not enough, he said. “Real resources are needed, so a few years ago the government set a goal for a Hungarian research astronaut to enter space once again after several decades,” he said, adding that the astronaut will conduct “important research” for two weeks on the ISS. The government adopted a space strategy four years ago and a ministerial commissioner was appointed to oversee the area, the minister noted, adding that this built on a tradition of decades, as many Hungarians were among the pioneers of the sector.

Also, Hungarian devices and developments have been deployed in space over the past decades, he said, referring to 140 Hungarian craft and modules reaching space during various space missions carried out by other nations. Szijjártó noted that 45 years have passed since Bertalan Farkas made his space flight as the first Hungarian astronaut, “a long interval before Hungary once again set itself such a goal”. He congratulated Tibor Kapu, the next Hungarian astronaut, and the reserve astronaut Gyula Cserényi, for completing the highly demanding training in recent years.