There are only a few hours left until Turkey's first space flight, which has implemented successful projects as part of its domestic and national development strategy. On the night of 01/19/2024 at 00.49 (02.49 Turkmen time), Turkey will make its first space flight as part of the National Space Program chaired by President Erdogan.

On the night of January 18-19 at 00:49, Turkey will send the first Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravci to the International Space Station (ISS) using the Dragon spacecraft.

In the field of space travel, which is one of the technologies that Turkey strives to develop in the field of science and technology, an important breakthrough was made with the establishment of the Turkish Space Agency (TUA) on December 13th, 2018.

On February 9, 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the National Space Program with the slogan “If you want to see the Moon, look at the sky.”

Within the framework of the program prepared for our country's strategy in the field of space policy, in addition to the Turkish astronaut and the scientific mission, such main goals and missions as sending a rover created using national technologies to the lunar surface, a program for the development of domestic satellites, developing regional positioning capabilities and synchronization, space access and cosmodrome project are envisaged.

The project to send a Turkish citizen into space as part of the mission of Turkish astronauts and scientists, which is among the 10 goals of the National Space Program, has come to an end.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the names of Alper Gezeravci and Tuva Cihangir Atasever as the first Turkish space travelers as part of the TEKNOFEST festival, which took place on April 29, 2023.

Gezeravcı and his companions, who participated in the Ax-3 mission in cooperation with the Turkish Space Agency and Axiom Space, will conduct 13 scientific experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) in coordination with TÜBİTAK Space, Axiom Space and NASA.

Alper Gezeravcı, Turkey's first space traveler, shared his message about his mission on social media: "My name doesn't matter. The main thing is for people to remember that their country is decisive enough to take a step into the future and dream not about the limits of the sky, but about the depths of space."

In the coming period, Turkey will continue to realize its goals within the framework of the National Space Program.

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