Turkey’s first astronaut is set to make new history in January 2024!
A SpaceX rocket will carry Alper Gezeravci, 44, along with Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei and Swiss Air Force fighter pilot Marcus Wandt will also go to the International Space Station (ISS) on January 9.
Gezeravci will spend about two weeks aboard the floating laboratory as part of the Axiom-3 (Ax-3) mission.
In 2022, Turkey signed an agreement with a Houston-based company that arranges space trips called Axiom Space to send its citizens on space missions.
Gezeravci holds a master’s degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He has 15 years of experience flying F-16 and other fighter jets in the Turkish Air Force. Apart from his military career, he worked as a captain in Turkish Airlines for 7 years.
Speaking to the media, he said that he is proud to be the first Turkish citizen to go to space.
“I am honoured and humbled to be the first ever Turkish astronaut to go to space,” Mr Gezeravci said during a media briefing last month, according to media portals.
“This mission is going to put a remarkable footprint on our prideful centenary. It will solidify the unity of Turkish people – a nation which was devastated by a recent natural disaster.”
The Axiom-3 crew is set to fly to the International Space Station in 2024. From left, Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt, Italian Walter Villadei, American-Spanish astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Turkey’s Alper Gezeravci. Photo: Axiom Space
The astronauts are set to carry out more than 30 science experiments on the orbiting laboratory. One of them includes the Cosmic Brain Organoids project, which investigates the effects of microgravity on neural stem cells, media outlets suggest.
