APW19980418.0210
NEWS STORY
04/18/1998 06:07:00
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BC-Hungary-Astronaut
First and only Hungarian astronaut moving to the United States
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) _ Tired of being sidelined, Hungarian
astronaut Bertalan Farkas is leaving for the United States to start
a new career, he said Saturday.
``Being 48 is too early to be retired,'' a fit-looking Farkas
said on state TV's morning talk show.
With American astronaut Jon McBride, Farkas set up an
American-Hungarian joint venture called Orion 1980, manufacturing
space-travel related technology.
Farkas will move to the company's U.S. headquarters.
Farkas, an air force captain, was sent into space on board the
Soyuz 36 on May 26, 1980. He spent six days aboard the Salyut 6
spacecraft with three Soviet astronauts, Valery Kubasov, Leonid
Popov and Valery Riumin.
McBride, 54, of Lewisburg, West Virginia, was part of a
seven-member crew aboard the Orbiter Challenger in October 1984 and
later served as assistant administrator for congressional relations
for NASA.
Farkas expressed the hope he one day follow in the
footsteps of fellow astronaut John Glenn, who at 77 is about to go
into space again.
On May 22, 1995, Farkas was made a brigadier general, and the
following year he was appointed military attache at the Hungarian
embassy in Washington.
However , cited by District of Columbia traffic police in
December for driving under the influence of alcohol, Farkas was ordered home and retired.
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AP-NY-04-18-98 0607EDT