Breaking! Hungary could soon send researchers to the International Space Station

In the last three years, Hungary managed to make up for decades of lagging behind in space research and played an increasingly important role in European space programs. Since Orsolya Ferencz was appointed Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research in 2018, Hungary has signed several bilateral agreements with many countries around the world, and our country will soon send researchers to the International Space Station.

Hungary has achieved the most significant development of the last decades in the field of domestic space exploration since the management of the Hungarian space sector had been transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Orsolya Ferencz, Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research, told Magyar Nemzet. For example, as we have reported, Hungary’s leading university established the Centre of Astrophysics and Space Science in June to coordinate research work in the field of space science and astrophysics.

Orsolya Ferencz also emphasised that

Hungary quadrupled its contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) programmes

(Hungary became ESA’s 22nd Member State on 24 February 2015), and as a result, Hungarian companies and research organisations can apply for four times as many sources and can allocate more money to finance their research and development. It is also important that our country managed to increase the number of budgetary resources available for space research, and after two years of preparatory work and analysis, Hungary’s space strategy has been completed.

Hungary is currently taking part in all the important joint European space agency programmes. Our country has signed more than half a dozen bilateral space cooperation agreements with France, Portugal, Israel, Turkey, Singapore, Brazil, South Africa, and Finland, and we are also negotiating with several other states, Orsolya Ferencz added.

In 2024 or 2025 at the latest, Hungary will send researchers or engineers to the International Space Station together with American company Axiom Space on a 30−60-day research mission.

However, the Hungarian astronaut mission is currently only in the stage where the parties are negotiating the technical details of the necessary contracts.

Our country has also been negotiating with the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities for a long time about a future spaceflight that will probably take place after 2025. In recent years, Hungary was also able to forge closer ties with the countries belonging to the Visegrád Group − the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia − in the field of space research. This regional cooperation can promote the sector’s recognition at an international level.

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Hirado emphasised that Hungary can contribute to the development of world space research in many areas. There are already small and medium-sized enterprises that rely in part or completely on the space market. Our country has achieved numerous results in the fields of pharmaceutical and physiological research. For example,

a Hungarian company was able to conduct experiments in its own chemical laboratory at the International Space Station from December 2020 to January 2021. This mission was so successful that this company is now working with NASA.