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Hungary conquers space
Head for the stars. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán plans to send a Hungarian astronaut into space.
It would be for 2024, announced the Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó. It would be a first since the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1980, under socialism, the Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas, the "Gagarin magyar", had spent eight days on board the Soviet station Saliut VI .
Although Hungary is now a member of the European Union, it is not with the European Space Agency that it will carry out its project, but once again with the Russians. Two days ago, the Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs met in Moscow with the director of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The two countries will carry out projects together. On the one hand, Hungary will send satellites into the cosmos. On the other hand, it will train four astronauts and one of them will be selected to go into space within four years. The Hungarian cosmonaut will first reach the base of Baikonur, in Kazakhstan. From there, he will fly to the Soviet space station, where he is expected to spend between four and six months.
Hungary, the means of its ambitions ?
Sending a Hungarian into space may seem like science fiction, the foreign minister admitted, but he assured that Hungary was ready and that space research was very advanced. The Minister announced a doubling of the research budget. In addition, the State will invest more than 30 million euros in this space mission. Experts say this will not be enough, because sending a man into space is extremely expensive. The government will no doubt have to extend the amount.
Mixed reactions
The pro-government newspaper Magyar Nemzet welcomes this technological advance, while the opposition weekly HVG criticizes an expensive adventure when public hospitals are dilapidated and the sick have to bring everything: cotton, toilet paper, syringes ...
On social networks, Internet users reacted with humor, recalling that the first snowfall had caused chaos in public transport. " If the trams cannot even cross the capital as soon as a few snowflakes fall, I don't know how we're going to go into space, " commented a user.
As for the Hungarian satirical party, The Dog with Two Tails, it had suggested a few years ago that Hungary should build a space station. It was a joke of course, but today reality exceeds fiction! This humorous party has just had T-shirts made. We see a cosmonaut in a jumpsuit embroidered with folk motifs, a paprika sausage in his hand and a soccer ball under his arm. The round ball is the passion of Viktor Orbán. He created a football academy, and invested billions in the construction of new stadiums. But Hungary is beaten by teams around the world. This photo of the cosmonaut in a patriotic suit is a way of making fun of the nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who dreams of a grandiose fate for his country.