BREAKING: Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu landed after long mission is space – UPDATED, VIDEOS, PHOTOS

The SpaceX Dragon space capsule carrying members of the Axiom-4 mission, including Hungarian research astronaut Tibor Kapu, landed off the coast of California at 11.31am Hungarian time on Tuesday.

The space capsule entered the atmosphere at a speed of more than 27,000kmh, when communication with the astronauts was interrupted for around 7 minutes. About 4 minutes before splashdown, two smaller stabilising parachutes opened, followed by the four large main parachutes. The SpaceX Shannon recovery vessel and speedboats set off for the landing site, and after safety checks, the space capsule will be lifted onto the rescue ship.

• Hungary’s man in space: Tibor Kapu calls Earth view ‘a miracle’

Axiom Mission 4 crew undocks from space station for return to Earth

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 1115GMT on Monday, completing the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory. The Axiom Mission 4 crew is returning to Earth after 18 days in space, targeting a splashdown off the California coast Tuesday, the Turkish Anadolu News Agency wrote.

Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Mission Specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu closed the hatch between Dragon and the station at 0907GMT in preparation for departure. The crew completed 288 orbits around Earth, covering nearly 12.2 million kilometers (7.6 million miles) during their approximately 433-hour mission, according to Axiom Space.

Dragon is slowly maneuvering away from the station’s Harmony module into an orbital track for the roughly 22.5-hour journey home. The spacecraft is returning with more than 263 kilograms (580 pounds) of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments done during the mission.

Axiom Space described the mission as uniting people from across the globe, stating: “Their time in space is a reminder that when nations work side by side, we can go farther – not just in distance, but in what we’re capable of achieving together.”

HUN-REN space experiments ‘successful’

HUN-REN space experiments such as the observation of the upper atmosphere electrical activities taking place in the Earth’s night hemisphere carried out on the International Space Station by Hungarian research astronaut Tibor Kapu, who returned to Earth on Tuesday, have proved to be spectacularly successful, the institute said in a statement.

Among the experiments, Kapu recorded videos of lightning activity and related electrical flashes of light, so-called FEF phenomena, that appear above thunderstorm clouds for the HUN-REN Geophysics and Space Research Institute.

The images are expected to be helpful in verifying detection efficiency in ground-based lightning detection networks and applying knowledge of electrical activity of thunderstorms in climate research, the statement noted.

Meanwhile, on behalf of the HUN-REN Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Research Institute, Kapu conducted measurements related to a new tracking method which can be used in medicine, robotics, and even video games, and the mission provided an opportunity for longer measurements of calibration data from two complete orbits. Preliminary results can be expected in a few weeks once NASA has released the data. The algorithms derived from the experiment may, in addition, aid space navigation and the joint coordination of spacecraft during docking, the statement added.

Here is the live video of his return:

Experiments in a weightless environment

Kapu also furthered a discovery in 2024 by HUN-REN-BME Morphodynamics Research Group applied mathematicians regarding spatial structures called soft cells which could only be performed in a weightless environment. He created bodies of water to create soft cells, forming a connected structure from several soft cells and thereby showing that spatial structures cling to each other in an unusual and highly stable way, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, crystal chemists from the HUN-REN Natural Science Research Centre, in cooperation with the HUNOR Program and the Japanese space industry company JAMSS, spent a month growing single crystals from a new organic compound. Under weightless conditions, more crystal structures can be grown than in any laboratory on Earth. This may open new avenues in chemical research and industrial applications, being the first hydrogen-bonded framework structure ever to be crystallized in a weightless environment.

FM Szijjártó says it was ‘an honour’ for ministry to coordinate second Hungarian space mission

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Tuesday said it was “an honour” for the foreign ministry to coordinate the completion of the second Hungarian research space mission after 45 years.

Tibor Kapu’s return to Earth on Tuesday marked the end of the stage of the mission that the Hungarian research astronaut spent on the International Space Station, Szijjártó said during a break in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, according to a ministry statement.

“We are proud that Hungary is among the countries that have been able to become a frontrunner in global technology, space exploration and the space industry by placing a research astronaut mission at the top of their space exploration and space industry programme,” Szijjártó said.

“This Hungarian research astronaut mission gave us the opportunity to carry out several scientific experiments that could only be conducted on the ISS, and which will ensure more serious growth and breakthrough opportunities for the Hungarian economy,” the minister said.

Szijjártó said it was “an honour” for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to be chosen by the government seven years ago to carry out the space mission.

“It was an honour for us to be able to successfully complete this complex, often doubtful task,” Szijjártó said. “It was an honour to work with all the candidates who felt the courage and willingness to carry out this important mission as the second Hungarian research astronaut.”

“We thank Tibor Kapu for completing the preparation and taking on this mission, representing 15 million Hungarians,” the minister said. “It was an honour for all of us at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to coordinate the second Hungarian space mission.”

“I hope the entire Hungarian nation is proud that from this day Hungary can say that it has completed two successful space missions within half a century,” he added.

Read more about space reasearch.