What does Client Gate (Ügyfélkapu) have to do with Tibor Kapu becoming an astronaut? What could have silenced the otherwise rather talkative Shux and Tibor Kapu for six minutes on board the spacecraft named Grace? What does it mean in terms of space travel when a file upload gets stuck? These, among other things, as well as the process of becoming an astronaut and the special professional relationship between them were the topics discussed by research astronaut Kapu and astronaut candidate Gyula Cserényi in the theater hall of the University of Debrecen on Wednesday at an interview conducted by Vice Rector for Academic Affairs László Csernoch.

Tibor Kapu and his backup astronaut, Gyula Cserényi, talked about the selection process for the HUNOR Hungarian Astronaut Program and the challenges of training, from the announcement of the application opportunity to its closing and the landing process in an interview given at the University of Debrecen's oDEon Theater, where they met an audience of high school and university students. 

One of the most exciting stages of the selection process was when the astronaut candidates could sit in a fighter jet plane. The various flight exercises carried out during the 14-month selection process of the HUNOR program provided Tibor with so many new experiences, while for Gyula, it was only while learning how to use the ejector seat that he realized what he was actually preparing to go for. 


“I am just an ordinary family guy living in the provinces, so I ride my bike in the mornings to commute to the Bosch factory in Hatvan and, one day, I find myself going to Kecskemét—where I am originally from, by the way—to visit my parents, and then, all of a sudden, I switch to flying in a Gripen,” recalls Gyula Cserényi about the early stages of the selection process.

In turn, Tibor Kapu spoke in detail about the training in Houston and Los Angeles as well as about the Axiom-4 international mission crew, which, in addition to him, included Commander Peggy Whitson from the United States, Indian Air Force pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Polish research astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski.


“Peggy, the most experienced US astronaut, took three newcomers along with her on this mission. We managed to develop an amazing level of team dynamics amongst us. One of the cornerstones for this was Peggy’s superb team-building skill. We knew that everyone of us really wanted this and was working hard to make the mission a success. Over the months, we reached a point where I would really entrust my life to these three people,” said Tibor Kapu.

The launching of mission Axiom-4 was postponed several times. The astronauts spent as many as 32 days in quarantine with their backup crewmates, which was the longest pre-mission quarantine in the history of NASA.


“It wasn’t just the period spent in quarantine that was extremely exciting and eventful. I never thought that, after everything we had been through, anything could happen in the last two or three hours before launch that would prevent us from taking off. Yet, that is exactly what happened. The file containing the wind profiles, which was necessary for the potential interruption of our mission, failed to upload. In general, we took this year very seriously but, practically, we also laughed our way through it. It was no coincidence that we named our zero-G indicator Joy. After all, cheerfulness was what characterized our crew the best. Now, at that moment, those six minutes were the quietest six minutes in the world. These four people did not utter a word: you could almost physically feel the tension,” recalled Tibor Kapu about the last minutes before the launch.

The second Hungarian national research astronaut also spoke in the university theater about the physical adaptation processes that take place in a state of weightlessness.

During the last seven months, the training of the Hungarian astronauts was separated. Gyula Cserényi’s preparation shifted towards research and development, with his most important task being to provide ground support for Tibor Kapu’s work.


“For several months, we worked with our research and development colleagues in the HUNOR program to get the best experiments onto the board of the International Space Station in the most integrated state possible, so that we could carry out these experiments as precisely as possible according to the specifications we had developed. Regardless, it was entertaining to see Tibi struggling with the assembly and installation of the research equipment on board the ISS in the early days, with parts floating around in microgravity,” said Gyula Cserényi.


Tibor Kapu underlined that, out of the sixty experiments taken to the International Space Station, twenty-five were Hungarian, and these were not only impressive in terms of quantity but also regarding quality. As he said, during the 20 days of the mission, forward-looking, highly advanced scientific investigations involving a wealth of novelties were carried out. One of his favorites among these was the study developed by researchers at the University of Debrecen, which monitored the germination, production, and development of plants. Nonetheless, he also spoke in detail about our university's other research project on cerebral blood flow dynamics.

According to the second Hungarian astronaut, it is extremely difficult to leave outer space, but easy to return to Earth.

“During the course of our return, we normally begin to collide with the denser part of the atmosphere at an altitude of about 95 km, where the air temperature is roughly 6000 degrees Celsius. At that point, our cabin is just like a fireball. Well, you can try telling any mother how exciting it must be to have her little son returning to Earth in such a flaming fireball at a speed of 24,000 kilometers an hour,” he added.

The full presentation of the interview can be viewed here.


During their visit to the University of Debrecen on Wednesday, the Hungarian astronauts visited what is called the Biodrome, where they could see various stages of the research conducted during the Axiom-4 mission on plant germination, microgreen production, and leaf development, as well as the home grounds of our university’s space pepper.

Here, they held a professional consultation series with the leaders and experts of the research project conducted by the University of Debrecen as part of the HUNOR Hungarian Astronaut Program in the Ax-4 scientific portfolio. This meeting was attended by Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs László Csernoch, leader of the HUNOR project at the University of Debrecen and professor at the Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and professional leader of the VISPRO program László Csiba, research physicians Eszter Balogh and Tamás Árokszállási, Vice Dean of Scientific Affairs at the Faculty of Agriculture, Food Sciences and Environmental Management and professional leader of VITAPRIC Szilvia Veres, Professor Emeritus and professional advisor Miklós Fári and Associate Professor Éva Domokosné Szabolcsy.


As the second Hungarian national research astronaut in space, Tibor Kapu spent 20 days on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission. The Crew Dragon space capsule, which was named Grace, was launched into space by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:31 a.m. Hungarian time on June 25, 2025. Tibor Kapu and his fellow-astronauts docked with the International Space Station on June 26, where they joined the seven-member ISS crew. The SpaceX Dragon capsule returned to Earth on July 15, landing successfully in the Pacific Ocean at 11:33 a.m. CET.

Press Centre - ÉE