All of Turkiye is looking forward to the ceremony of sending the first Turkish astronaut, Alper Gezeravci, to the International Space Station. The private spaceflight Axion Mission 3 is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday just after midnight Bulgarian time or at 1.11 a.m. Turkish time.
The launch ceremony will be viewable from specially installed planetariums in the capital Ankara and in Istanbul. Gezeravci's entire flight will be followed by space engineers and scientists working at the ground station of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkiye
The launch ceremony will also be streamed at a number of science centres in Turkiye, including in Konya, Bursa, Antalya, Trabzon and Kayseri.
The Turkish TV channel NTV reported that the Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet, Fatih Kacir, and a delegation of scientists have left for the US to witness the launch in person.
Turkiye's national space programme was announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2021.
The first Turkish astronaut, Gezeravci, was born on December 2, 1979, in Silifke, Southern Turkey. He was an F-16 fighter pilot. He performed missions for the Turkish Air Force for 21 years.
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