The VITAPRIC program, implemented within the framework of the Ax-4 mission, will be presented in detail in chronological order. Hungary has been a full member of the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2015, while the University of Debrecen has been participating in the UniSpace higher education program since 2022, contributing to the training of future space research professionals. Our research group has been conducting plant biology experiments related to space nutrition for more than 20 years, and the first Hungarian astronaut, Bertalan Farkas, traveled to space as early as 1980, demonstrating Hungary’s long-standing tradition in space research.
The VITAPRIC-story:
June 25, 2025 – Launch of the Ax-4 mission.
June 26, 2025 – Tibor Kapu arrived at the International Space Station.
June 28, 2025 – Tibor unpacked and watered the wheat, radish, and pepper seedlings of the VITAPRIC experiment, placed them in their positions, and activated the RANDAM unit that measures the plants’ radiation exposure and environmental conditions – temperature, pressure, humidity, and air composition.
June 30, 2025 – During the VITAPRIC experiment, Tibor replaced the germination boxes of the radish and wheat seeds with higher-walled containers to allow space for the growing plants.
July 1, 2025 – Tibor also replaced the germination boxes of the pepper seeds with higher-walled containers.
July 4, 2025 – Tibor documented the growth rate of the VITAPRIC experiment’s bred peppers, radishes, and wheat with photographs.
July 7, 2025 – Tibor harvested the experimental radish samples, replaced the wheat seedlings’ germination boxes with even higher-walled containers, and watered the pepper and wheat seedlings.
July 10, 2025 – Tibor harvested the experimental wheat samples.
July 12, 2025 – Tibor harvested the experimental pepper samples.
July 15, 2025 – The Ax-4 crew successfully landed on Earth.
March 18, 2026 – The experimental plants arrived in Debrecen.
Today- The results are still pending, as analyses and evaluations are currently ongoing.