"After returning, it takes about 10 to 20 minutes for a person to process what has just happened. A 20-day mission is so intense, with so many hours of work packed into it, that you're basically running on full speed the whole time. There’s so much adrenaline throughout the entire mission that a sense of calm only comes in the first few minutes after returning," Tibor Kapu told Mandiner in an interview. However, the Hungarian astronaut also revealed that the return to Earth is made more difficult by the fact that, once you land, every part of your body feels heavy due to our planet's gravity.
Hungary’s second astronaut also disclosed that he will remain in Houston for more than three more weeks, since he began a two-week rehabilitation period after arrival. That will be followed by another two-week period of sharing experiences with Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX. This means he is expected to return to Hungary in mid-August.
Tibor Kapu successfully completed all of his experiments in space. According to him, this was possible because the Hunor (Hungarian to Orbit) space program assembled a highly capable team, and as he put it, he was just a very small piece of the whole. In his words, he simply went there and executed the tasks he had been preparing for.
However, the point is not the number of experiments, but the fact that these experiments hold incredible scientific value,
Tibor Kapu emphasized.
From Above, Only the Boundless Is Visible
“It’s often said that from up there, you don’t see borders,” the astronaut noted. This can be taken both literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, he explained that we Hungarians are lucky because our country is bounded by the Carpathians, so it’s very easy to see where it lies, and Lake Balaton is also clearly visible. Other countries, however, are harder to identify from that vantage point, he added.
Referring to critics of the mission, he said that, in his experience, those who offered support often did so in a way that others could not see, while those with negative opinions made sure that everyone could see.
As for the critics, he added that their numbers may seem large, but that is not the reality, and this reality is visible not only from space. There are far more people who supported him all along.
Kapu Tibor also stressed that without the work of the hundreds or even thousands of people who put energy into this over the past few years, none of it could have happened. He highlighted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research Orsolya Ferencz, to whom they owe a great deal — "she was the driving force behind it all." He also mentioned the space program staff, whose numbers have grown significantly recently, and whom he looks forward to seeing again. Finally, he thanked his family and friends.
Twenty Days Away from Home
The International Space Station is not called that by accident. It's a huge collaborative effort and the finest example of peaceful coexistence,
Tibor Kapu emphasized. He pointed out that there were never any problems up there with conflicting interests between different countries. "Once you're up there, you can only count on each other. If there is a problem, it does not matter what nationality people are," he added.
The Hungarian astronaut hopes that this mission will be a unifying event for the nation, and in retrospect, he sees that this has come to pass to some extent, although he does not want to compare himself to athletes or Nobel Prize winners, because they have truly dedicated their entire lives to this.
Tibor Kapu also emphasized that this was not the achievement of one person, but of an entire team. The fact that he was able to be there as the sole Hungarian and carry out his work was only possible because of the preparations, 95 percent of which, he said, were done not by him, but by the experts back home.
Being able to conduct the experiments with pride meant a great deal to him.
And so did the honor of entering the space station in a spacesuit bearing the Hungarian flag, representing his Hungarian identity — one of the greatest honors imaginable,
the Hungarian astronaut stressed, adding that "Hungary is now on a map where it hasn’t really been before, but we need to stay there, and that will take a lot more work."
A Few Things Still Surprised Tibor Kapu
After such intensive training, he found it hard to imagine that he would encounter many surprises, but it was the simplest things that caused him the greatest surprises.
While you can simulate floating on Earth, when you're actually in space and floating nonstop, it takes a few days to learn how to do it without constantly bumping your head or elbows,
the astronaut explained. He also said even folding clothes in space turned out to be a surprisingly tricky task.
