The flight of the first Turkish cosmonaut is scheduled for January 17
Minister of Industry and Technology Fatih Kacir said that the flight of the first Turkish cosmonaut Alper Gezeravci has been postponed to January 17. He said this on air on the Habertürk TV channel, TASS reports.
“The flight will take place on January 17, 2024. Previously, we reported that it was planned for January 9, but due to the fact that SpaceX will carry out the launch planned before our flight later, the date of departure of our astronaut is shifted by 7-8 days. That is, for now it is January 17,” he said.
Kadzhir noted that during the mission it is planned to conduct several scientific experiments and observations. Ankara, he said, has high hopes for this flight as the beginning of a new stage in the country's technological development. Gezeravji himself also joined the broadcast. He is in pre-flight quarantine and training mode. According to him, everything is going according to plan and without problems, although there is still some excitement about the upcoming flight and its importance for the country.
The Turkish astronaut is part of the Axiom 3 mission, which will travel to the International Space Station from the Space Center named after John Kennedy. Colleagues from Spain, Italy and Sweden will fly into orbit with him.
In April 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented to the public two candidates for flight to the ISS. Tuva Jihangir Atasever, who worked as an engineer at the Roketsan company, was preparing for the mission together with Gezeravji, who is a pilot of the republican air force. These people were selected from 36 thousand candidates as part of a selection process carried out by experts from the Turkish space program, republican research institutes and specialists from the American company Axiom Space.
In 2021, the President of Turkey announced the start of a national space program, including training astronauts and sending its own rocket to the Moon. The cost of it will be about $6 billion. As part of the lunar program, the country is developing a ship that will have to land on the surface of the Earth's satellite.
ORIENT news
