Bertalan Farkas (born August 2, 1949) is the first Hungarian

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, space explorer and

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

became the seventh nation to be represented in space by him. Farkas is also the first

Esperantist An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperant ...

cosmonaut. He is currently the president of Airlines Service and Trade. Following his mission, Hungarian-American Károly Simonyi (

Charles Simonyi Charles Simonyi (; hu, Simonyi Károly, ; born September 10, 1948) is a Hungarian-American software architect. He started and led Microsoft's applications group, where he built the first versions of Microsoft Office. He co-founded and led I ...

) was the second Hungarian astronaut – the only person in the entire world who has been twice in space as a

space tourist Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...

and who had paid for himself for the

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in ...

s. The next Hungarian astronaut will travel to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

by 2025.

Early life and military career

Born in

Gyulaháza Gyulaháza is a village in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, ...

, he graduated from the György Kilián Aeronautical College in

Szolnok Szolnok (; also known by other #Name and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. A City with county rights, city with county rights, it is located on the banks of the Tisza river, i ...

in 1969. He then attended the

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

Military Aviation Institute in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, from where he graduated in 1972. After earning his qualifications at

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, Farkas joined the

Hungarian Air Force The Hungarian Air Force ( hu, Magyar Légierő), is the air force branch of the Military of Hungary, Hungarian Defence Forces. The task of the current Hungarian Air Force is primarily defensive purposes. The flying units of the air force are or ...

and rose to the rank of

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointe ...

. He also attended the Bessenyei György Gimnázium in

Kisvárda Kisvárda (; german: Kleinwardein, yi, קליינווארדיין, Kleynvardeyn) is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary near the border of Slovakia and Ukraine. It is the 3rd largest tow ...

Intercosmos program

In 1978 he volunteered to become a cosmonaut and was selected as part of the fifth international programme for

Interkosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...

. His backup cosmonaut was

Béla Magyari Béla Magyari (8 August 1949 – 23 April 2018Tóth Balázs"Elhunyt Magyari Béla kiképzett űrhajós" ''Index'', 23 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018. ) was a colonel in the Hungarian Air Force The Hungarian Air Force ( hu, Magyar Légier� ...

. Farkas, along with Soviet cosmonaut

Valery Kubasov Valery Nikolaevich Kubasov (russian: Вале́рий Никола́евич Куба́сов; 7 January 1935 – 19 February 2014) was a Soviet/Russian cosmonaut who flew on two missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 6 and So ...

, was launched into space on

Soyuz 36 Soyuz 36 (russian: Союз 36, ''Union 36'') was a 1980 Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the 11th mission to and ninth successful docking at the orbiting facility. The Soyuz 36 crew were the first to visit the long ...

from

Baikonur Cosmodrome ''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy'' rus, Космодром Байконур''Kosmodrom Baykonur'' , image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg , caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's "Gagarin's Start" Soyuz ...

on May 26, 1980, at 18:20 ( UTC). While in

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

, Farkas conducted experiments in materials science. After 7 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes, and having completed 124 orbits, Farkas and Kubasov returned to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

, landing 140 km southeast of

Jezkazgan Jezkazgan, or Zhezkazgan ( kk, Жезқазған, translit=Jezqazğan ), formerly known as Dzhezkazgan (russian: Джезказган) until 1992, is a city and the administrative centre of Ulytau Region, Kazakhstan, on a reservoir of the Kara ...

. Bertalan Farkas was awarded the title

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

on June 30, 1980.Biography
at the website on Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia

Personal life

Farkas is married to Anikó Farkas, and has four children: Gábor, Aida, Ádám and Bertalan. He loves

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

and plays it often. He was a member of the

Hungarian Democratic Forum The Hungarian Democratic Forum ( hu, Magyar Demokrata Fórum, MDF) was a centre-right political party in Hungary. It had a Hungarian nationalist, national-conservative, Christian-democratic ideology. The party was represented continuously in the ...

, a Hungarian conservative political party, and was its candidate at the 2006 parliamentary election in the Baktalórántháza election district. He holds the rank of Commander (CLJ) in the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem in Hungary.

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Bertalan Farkas

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farkas, Bertalan 1949 births Living people People from Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Hungarian Esperantists Hungarian astronauts Recipients of the Order of Lenin Foreign Heroes of the Soviet Union Hungarian Democratic Forum politicians 20th-century Hungarian people Astronaut-politicians Salyut program cosmonauts