Bertalan Farkas

Bertalan Farkas (born Aug. 2, 1949, Gyulahza, Hung.) is a Hungarian pilot and cosmonaut, the first Hungarian citizen to travel into space.

Farkas graduated from the György Kilián Aeronautical College in Szolnok, Hung., in 1969 and then attended the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute in Krasnodar, U.S.S.R. (now Russia), from which he graduated in 1972. Farkas qualified as a first-class military pilot in the Hungarian air force in 1976.

Farkas was chosen as a cosmonaut candidate in 1978 as a member of the Intercosmos program’s fifth international crew. The non-Soviet cosmonauts of Intercosmos flew alongside Soviet crews on missions intended to demonstrate unity between Warsaw Pact and other countries sympathetic to the Soviet Union. After completing his cosmonaut training at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, U.S.S.R. (now Russia), Farkas flew into space on May 26, 1980, as a research cosmonaut on Soyuz 36 with a Soviet cosmonaut, commander Valery Kubasov. Farkas took part in several medical, biological, physical, and materials science experiments on board the Salyut 6 space station. He returned from space aboard Soyuz 35, landing on Earth on June 3, 1980. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and received the Order of Lenin.

Britannica Quiz

Famous Astronauts and Cosmonauts

After his flight Farkas returned to the Hungarian air force. In subsequent years he worked as a scientist at the Technical University of Budapest (now known as the Budapest University of Technology and Economics) and received a degree from its faculty of transport engineering in 1986. Farkas later served as the air force attaché at the Hungarian embassy in Washington, D.C., from 1996 to 1997. He retired from the Hungarian air force as a brigadier general in 1997. After his retirement he served as president of Airlines Service and Trade Ltd., in Budapest and co-owned Atlant-Hungary Airlines.