Türkiye announces first space travelers

ISTANBUL

Türkiye has announced Alper Gezeravcı and Tuva Cihangir Atasever as the country’s first space travelers to be sent into space in the last quarter of this year.

At the Teknofest event, Türkiye’s largest aerospace and technology festival, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the country’s first space traveler candidates.

Gezeravcı, a pilot in the Turkish Air Force for 21 years, will be sent to the International Space Station and spend 14 days.

During the 14-day mission, the first traveler will perform 13 experiments prepared by the leading universities and research institutions in the country.

Atasever, a system engineer at Turkish missile producer Roketsan in the field of space launch systems, was declared as reserve candidate for the space mission.

The reserve candidate will perform a suborbital flight to strengthen his training.

The two space traveler candidates were chosen among over 36,000 applications.

Some 750 candidates who met the specific criteria set by the Industry and Technology Ministry for the mission were included in the next evaluation and qualification processes.

First, the candidates were sent online tests that evaluated their critical thinking abilities, psychological conditions and health histories.

Minister Mustafa Varank stated that after the necessary evaluations at this stage, the candidates then passed face-to-face tests.

“They participated in one-on-one interviews with delegations including astronauts who have traveled to space many times. All of the tests were carried out using the infrastructures in our country with the participation of foreign experts. As a result, the selection process for the Turkish space passenger who will go to the International Space Station has been successfully completed,” Varank explained.

Both candidates started training given by Axiom Space, a U.S.-based space infrastructure development company.

They will also receive theoretical and practical training that will enable astronauts to perform their vital activities in the space station environment.

Varank stated that 20 countries were conducting similar missions to the space station, and Türkiye will also enter the exclusive club.

“When I was asked by my elders what I wanted to be in the future, the limit for me was the planes in the sky. But today’s children’s dreams go beyond the space and horizon,” the space traveler candidate Gezeravcı expressed.

“This is the greatest happiness, the greatest honor in my life. My goal is working day and night in order to properly fulfill the historical task,” Atasever said.