Budapest calls space: PM Orbán did an interview with Tibor Kapu, said he would join the Hungarian astronaut anytime – UPDATED
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had a video call with Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu, who is participating in Axiom Mission 4, on Sunday afternoon.
“I’m still a bit moved right now, this is the first time I’ve ever done this in my life, I spoke to a great man, after all,” Orbán said in a video posted on Facebook after the call. When asked if he would go to space, he replied: “Of course, I would”. “I would see what we look like from the outside, the whole Earth as one,” he said.
The prime minister said he had “a more or less all-round view” of the country and even the European Union because of his job, “but to see all of the Earth in its entirety, that must be a special experience and is perhaps only possible from space”.
UPDATE: More details
Kapu is currently on a two-week mission at the International Space Station and, on Sunday talked about the experiments conducted at the ISS, the HUNOR programme and Hungary’s role in the space industry. According to the footage aired on news channel M1 on Monday, Kapu called it an honour to talk to Orbán and “to all viewers through this broadcast”. He said he was happy to see that “the most important goal of the mission was already achieved – to reach the Hungarian people.”
Orbán said: “We are also very proud to see you come this far.” He asked Kapu about his opinion on Hungary entering the international space industry, to which Kapu said: “There is no question in my mind about that. I am convinced that small countries are the ones with the greatest dreams.”
The space industry is a branch of science and industry where small players can also enter the market, Kapu said, noting that the Axiom-4 mission comprised of a US, an Indian and a Polish astronaut beside himself, “making it an example of international cooperation accomplishing great things.”
In the up-and-coming space industry, “every invested forint will turn a six-fold profit,” he said. “At the same time, the thought of how many people can be inspired by this is much closer to my heart.” Orbán told Kapu that “the world is full of temptation, the good and the bad kind. You are showing our children the good kind of temptations.”
Kapu said that Axiom-4, which docked with the ISS on Thursday, brought 60 experiments to be conducted at the station. Kapu is scheduled to conduct 25 of those experiments, mostly in the field of dosimetry, the measurement of ionising radiation. He said he had also sown seeds which will be used in a DNA review at a later stage.
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