Goose liver, a gun, and shark repellent – all of these were part of the first Hungarian astronaut's equipment

“Now we will once again have the opportunity of having a Hungarian… travel into space, and then my dream of not being the last Hungarian astronaut will have come true.”

These were the words with which Bertalan Farkas concluded a documentary about his life by the Katonai Filmstúdió a few years ago. The first Hungarian astronaut had previously expressed in several interviews that it was his great desire to live to see Hungary return to space. This dream may soon come true: if everything goes according to plan, on June 8, as a member of the Axiom Space Ax-4 mission, Tibor Kapu will cross the Kármán line, the boundary of outer space, and will become the second Hungarian to look down on Hungary from above. Or at least the second trained Hungarian astronaut, because another person of Hungarian descent has been to space besides Farkas: Charles Simonyi, also known as Károly Simonyi, who was a space tourist on the International Space Station in 2007 and 2009.

In a previous interview with us, Tibor Kapu spoke with great respect about Farkas, who has spent much time talking with the young astronaut candidate and has given him advice. At the time, Kapu remarked that “the training he received was nothing compared to how they tortured Berci.” Perhaps the same can be said about the propaganda value of the two events. This year's Hungarian space flight will, of course, give the Hungarian government an opportunity to present it as its own achievement, but the expected positive response is unlikely to match that which followed Bertalan Farkas' mission. The 1980 space flight was followed by a success campaign similar to that enjoyed by Gagarin in the Soviet Union. Ahead of Tibor Kapu's mission, it is worth recalling the story of the first Hungarian astronaut.

From Gyulaháza to Star City

Born in Gyulaháza, Szabolcs county, in 1949, Bertalan Farkas might never have become an astronaut if it hadn't been for his schoolmate, Gyuri Kopasz. It was at his insistence that Farkas enrolled in an aviation school when they were both attending the Bessenyei György High School in Kisvárda. Of the two, Gyuri Kopasz was more interested in becoming a pilot, but he failed the medical examination. Berci, however, passed, and so starting in 1967 he continued his studies at the Kilián György Aviation Technical College in Szolnok. Three years later, this took him straight to the Soviet Union, where Farkas graduated from the Krasnodar Academy of Aviation in 1972. He then joined the Pápa Air Force Regiment, where he served as a first-class fighter pilot from 1977.

By then, the joint space research program of the socialist countries, Interkosmos, was already well underway. As part of the program, the Soviets allowed several Eastern Bloc countries to send someone into space. The program had practical benefits, such as the integration of research areas, and it also symbolized the unity of the socialist countries. Thanks to Interkosmos, in the 1970s, Czechoslovakia became the third country to send an astronaut into space, followed by Poland, East Germany, and Bulgaria.

Hungarian astronaut candidates were also selected for the program. Starting in 1977, they were selected primarily from among the test pilots at the Aviation Medical Examination and Research Institute in Kecskemét. A year later, a Soviet delegation, which included the chief physician of the Star City cosmonaut training center in Baykonour, visited Hungary. The committee narrowed the selection down to four candidates: Imre Buczkó, László Elek, Bertalan Farkas, and Béla Magyari. The four of them were sent to Moscow, where, after further testing, only Farkas and Magyari remained in the running. At that time, it had not yet been decided which of them would end up traveling into space. For safety reasons, they both went through cosmonaut training so that there would be a backup astronaut for the program. In March 1978, they both moved into the apartments assigned to them in Star City, along with their families, and their preparations began.

In the end, it was PR that decided

The decision to send Bertalan Farkas into space was largely based on PR considerations. One of the leaders involved in the decision, Major General József Szabó, explained this to Index many years later. For quite some time, it was unclear who would be Hungary's first astronaut, and even a telegram from the head of Interkosmos was of no help, as it stated that both Farkas and Magyari were suitable for space flight and that the Soviets would leave the decision to the Hungarian government.

It was at this point that the first Deputy Chief of Staff, the Chief Medical Officer of the air force, and József Szabó gathered at the office of Lajos Czinege, the Minister of Defense. Since Szabó was the one who had spent the most time with the candidates, Czinege asked for his opinion, and the major general replied:

“...every time I visited Star City, it was always Bertalan Farkas who was the spokesperson. He was always the one presenting the problems, never Béla Magyari, who mostly just nodded and agreed. My experience is that Béla does not like to talk. He might grow into the role after a month or two, but this is the situation at the moment. That is why I currently consider Bertalan Farkas to be more suitable.”

They all agreed that the more charming and personable Farkas was a better choice than the quieter, more reserved Magyari as the main figure when it came to the propaganda events which were to follow the flight. They informed the Soviets of the decision, as well as the two candidates. Magyari had a hard time accepting the decision and was devastated for days. Vladimir Dzhanibekov, commander of the reserve crew, helped him come to terms with it. Then he and Farkas sat down to play chess and to have a drink, and agreed that they wouldn't get in each other's way. In previous years, there had been several instances in the Interkosmos program where astronaut candidates from different countries had clashed over who would get the top spot, but Magyari accepted the situation and supported Farkas in everything.

Once everyone had accepted the decision, the Hungarians received a telegram from the Hungarian ambassador in Moscow at the time, Mátyás Szűrös. Szűrös had been in talks with Soviet cosmonauts in Star City, including Alexei Leonov, one of the participants in the Soyuz-Apollo space rendezvous. Leonov and his colleagues were of the opinion that Magyari should be the first Hungarian cosmonaut after all, as they believed he had mastered the material better than Farkas. According to Szabó, if the telegram had arrived earlier, it is possible that Magyari would have been chosen, but since everyone already considered it a done deal that Farkas would go into space, Czinege did not change their previously made decision.

Goose liver pâté and shark repellent

The first Hungarian astronaut was to set off on one of the flights of the Soyuz program. The Soviets had originally planned a launch for 1979, with Bertalan Farkas and his fellow astronaut and mission commander, the Soviet Valery Kubasov aboard the Soyuz-34 spacecraft.

However, this plan was derailed by an unexpected technical failure. The main engine of Soyuz-33, which had carried the first Bulgarian cosmonaut, broke down, so the spacecraft was unable to dock with the Salyut-6 space station orbiting above and the Soyuz-32 connected to it. As a result, the following missions had to be completely reorganized: the crew of Soyuz-33 ended up returning in the same spacecraft they had taken off in, while the Soyuz-34 was launched empty and then used to bring down the crew of Salyut-6, but not before sending the Soyuz-32 back home empty. The Soviet space program then investigated the cause of the failure, and a new Soviet crew was sent to the space station on Soyuz-35, after which Farkas and Kubasov were finally able to depart.

Bertalan Farkas therefore set off aboard the Soyuz-36 on May 26, 1980, 45 years ago, a year later than originally planned. There were no complications during the journey, and the Hungarian state-run press reported on the historic event half an hour after takeoff. “Astronauts Valery Kubasov and Bertalan Farkas are in good health, and the onboard equipment of the Soyuz-36 spacecraft is functioning normally,” the newspapers reported the following day. On May 27, the spacecraft successfully docked with Salyut-6, where the space station crew, Soviet cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin, welcomed Farkas and his colleague.

Over the next few days, the astronauts mainly carried out scientific experiments, including some using Hungarian equipment. The most important of these was the Pille dosimeter developed by KFKI, which measured the cosmic radiation exposure of the astronauts. With the instruments previously used for this purpose, data could only be retrieved upon return to Earth, but Pille displayed the radiation dose received by the astronauts while still in space. It is no wonder that its improved successors were installed on the Mir Space Station and are also in use currently on the International Space Station.

In addition to radiation measurements, Farkas and his colleagues participated in the Hungarian-designed Interferon cell biology experiment, in which they studied the functioning of interferon proteins in the immune system under microgravity conditions. Using an instrument called Balaton, they examined the mental performance of astronauts, while in the Ötvös experiment they analyzed the crystal structures and alloys of metals important in semiconductor technology (gallium, arsenic, indium, and lead). In addition, they took loads of photos of Earth—including ones of Hungary, which the space station passed over twice during the mission.

It may also be considered a scientific experiment that the astronauts tested Hungarian-style space food developed by the Budapest-based Research Institute for Canning and Paprika Industry and the technical development department of the food service of the Hungarian People's Army. Hungary's food industry was quite robust at the time, so the development of food for astronauts was entrusted to the Hungarians. Farkas took the results of two years' research with him in a box decorated with tulips (a traditional pattern in Hungarian folk art).

The canned foods included pork stew, goose liver pâté, stuffed cabbage, smoked beef tongue, bean salad with frankfurters, and fried minced meat. If the reports are to be believed, the tins were emptied to the last bite, but Farkas still lost two and a half kilos during the trip.

Farkas and Kubasov left for home on June 3 aboard the Soyuz-35, but when the commander tried to start the engine, it failed to start. Tense minutes ensued after the astronauts received orders from ground control to wait for the next radio communication period. They then announced the Soviet solution to the problem: ground control asked the cosmonauts to try starting the engine again, but told them to hold the start button down for at least a second or longer this time. With that, the engine started and the Soyuz-35 began to move away from the space station. The rest of the return journey went largely according to plan, with the spacecraft separating into its modules as planned, the command module entering the atmosphere at the correct angle and the main parachute opening at the correct altitude. There was one mishap at the very end: to ensure a smooth landing, six landing thrusters were supposed to be activated just before the spacecraft reached the surface, but this did not happen. Even so, Farkas and Kubasov landed safely, not far from Jezkazgan in Kazakhstan. Interestingly, there was a gun in the cabin in case the astronauts needed to defend themselves from predators if they landed in the wilderness, and there was even shark repellent in case they landed in the sea.

A hero in several countries

Bertalan Farkas was received at home with the honors befitting a hero and lavishly decorated with honors. Among other things, he received the Order of Lenin and the Hero of the Soviet Union award, and also became an honorary citizen of Gyulaháza later on. On June 16, János Kádár (General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party) welcomed the two astronauts in a ceremony in front of the Parliament, where Farkas reported to him:

"Comrade Kádár, I, astronaut lieutenant Bertalan Farkas, respectfully report that I have carried out with integrity the honorable task entrusted to me by the party and my beloved people.”

Naturally, Kádár congratulated Farkas and, in accordance with the protocol customary in socialist countries at the time, kissed him on both cheeks.

In the months that followed, the propaganda apparatus made the most of the space flight. Pioneer groups and workers' brigades were named after Farkas, the press was flooded with centrally coordinated articles, and the country was swamped with souvenirs designed according to Soviet guidelines, from card calendars to Interkosmos space rockets with spinning wheels. It should be added that this merchandise business did suffer some collateral damage. Since the launch was originally scheduled for 1979, a huge quantity of posters, memorial coins, and other souvenirs had already been mass-produced with that date on them. These had to be withdrawn or destroyed. In fact, there had also been a similar situation earlier, because until it was decided which of the two Hungarian candidates would go on the mission, the socialist propaganda machine had printed materials announcing Béla Magyari's selection, and these also had to be destroyed.

Pop culture also drew plenty of inspiration from the event. Géza Hofi, the famous Hungarian stand-up comedian of the time sang about Berci in his show (he wondered about how Farkas managed to get through customs), for example. A record was also released with Farkas's words from before the launch on one side and a song by Gábor Presser and Dusán Sztevanovity, Magyar a világűrben (A Hungarian in Space), on the other. On one of the days while the mission was going on, the children's program Esti mese was broadcast live from space, with Bertalan Farkas reading a bedtime story and he even took a teddybear (a specific teddybear which was the mascot that introduced the bedtime story on state television every day at the time) in a spacesuit along with him on the trip.

Propaganda notwithstanding, with the Soyuz-36 mission, Hungary became the seventh nation in space, and this is something worth remembering from a historical perspective. Of course, in the 1970s and 1980s, it was basically the Soviets who ferried select individuals from friendly countries into space, but even taking this into account, it is impressive that we are ahead of countries such as France, the United Kingdom, and Japan on the list of nations that have sent people into space.

By the end of the 1980s, the Farkas craze had subsided, and after the regime change, there was almost nothing left of it – in fact, some people even questioned whether Bertalan Farkas had actually been in space. By then, having obtained a degree in transportation engineering, the astronaut was a colonel engineer, and from 1995, a brigadier general. In 1996, he became a military attaché in the United States, and he retired a year later. He then tried his hand at politics and the business world, but whatever he did, he never became as successful as he was as the first Hungarian astronaut, whose name is now immortalized in the asteroid 240757 Farkasberci.

To this day, Bertalan Farkas continues to accept invitations and enjoys talking about his experience. On his 70th birthday, he showed Heti Napló his brigadier general uniform, and proudly pointed out the three star-shaped decorations on it: that of the Hero of the Hungarian People's Republic, the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Golden Star of Ukraine. Now, at the age of 75, the first Hungarian astronaut's longtime dream is coming true: he will have a successor. Farkas participated in Tibor Kapu's training as an advisor and will also be present at the launch on June 8.