site.btaSpace Camp Turkiye Attracts Thousands of Children Every Year

Children from around the world, including Bulgaria, are interested in the education and entertainment centre Space Camp Turkiye in Izmir, said Emre Aday in an exclusive interview for BTA. Aday is the Camp's Marketing and Public Relations Manager.

The centre opened its doors for the first time on June 12, 2000. The idea for its establishment came earlier that year, when the first Turkish engineer to work at NASA on the development of the Saturn V rocket, Ismail Akbay, told Kaya Tuncer about the existence of children's space camps in the US. Tuncer subsequently funded and organized the project in Turkiye.

The Camp provides hands-on training for children with facilities similar to those used to train astronauts for their job. Children can experience what it feels like to walk on the Moon, to be weightless, to move in an environment with no air resistance.

Space enthusiasts can enjoy the centre all year round. Its goal is to teach about space but also to allow children from different countries to make friends and learn about each other's cultures.

This year, the Camp aims to attract some 6,000 children, with 200 Bulgarians expected to visit over the summer. To date, more than 270,000 students have participated in its programmes. The international programmes are conducted in English.