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It's been a year since BME’s most famous mechanical engineer returned from space
2026. 07. 15.
A lot has happened for Tibor Kapu since then — among others, he has become a student at the university once again.
Exactly one year ago, on July 15, 2025, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth as part of the Axiom Mission 4. The astronauts landed in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of California at 11:30 a.m. Hungarian time. They spent 20 days in space — longer than originally planned — after launching for the International Space Station on June 25 following several delays.
One member of the four-person crew was Tibor Kapu, the second Hungarian research astronaut after Bertalan Farkas. What connects the two of them is that they both graduated from the BME; moreover, Gyula Cserényi, the backup astronaut who completed the training alongside Tibor Kapu, also earned his degree from BME. Since then, both of them have returned as doctoral students.
Experiments in space and on Earth
As a research astronaut in the HUNOR program, Tibor Kapu conducted a total of 25 scientific experiments on the International Space Station, including some that were prepared by researchers at BME. He later spoke in detail on two of these: one is a healthcare innovation — already in the product development phase — designed to solve a specific problem, while the other is a basic geometric research on soft cells, the practical potential of which may become apparent later.
Hungarian students also had the opportunity to get a close-up look at some of the experiments. Physicists from BME and ELTE, along with dozens of high school students, replicated several of the experiments at the HUNiverzum visitor center, while tens of thousands of students from more than 300 educational institutions did the same in their own classrooms as part of the UniverZOOM program.
A lot has happened with Tibor Kapu and Gyula Cserényi since their return: they were elected honorary members of the Hungarian Academy of Engineering, gave a joint talk about their experiences at BME with Bertalan Farkas and Charles Simonyi — and, last but not least, officially became members of the BME Alumni community.
It has also been revealed that the government has entrusted Tibor with the leadership of the Hungarian Space Agency.
Rector’s Office, Communications Directorate
photos: Axiom Space