Bidspirit auction | Cosmonaut Farkas signed on his
Cosmonaut Farkas signed on his own Soyuz 35 1980 vintage Russian space FDC. Bertalan Farkas is the first Hungarian cosmonaut, space explorer and fighter pilot. Hungary became the seventh nation to be represented in space by him. Farkas is also the first Esperantist cosmonaut. He is currently the president of Airlines Service and Trade. Farkas, along with Soviet cosmonaut Valery Kubasov, was launched into space on Soyuz 36 from Baikonur Cosmodrome on May 26, 1980, at 18:20 (UTC). While in orbit, Farkas conducted experiments in materials science. After 7 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes, and having completed 124 orbits, Farkas and Kubasov returned to Earth, landing 140 km southeast of Jezkazgan. Bertalan Farkas was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on June 30, 1980. Soyuz 35 (Russian: ???? 35, Union 35) was a 1980 Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the 10th mission to and eighth successful docking at the orbiting facility. The Soyuz 35 crew were the fourth long-duration crew to man the space station. Cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin spent 185 days in space, setting a new space endurance record. Ryumin had completed a previous mission only eight months before. They hosted four visiting crews, including the first Hungarian, Cuban and Vietnamese cosmonauts. As long-duration crews now routinely swapped spacecraft with incoming crew, the Soyuz 35 craft was used to return the visiting Soyuz 36 crew to Earth, while the resident crew returned in Soyuz 37.