Turkey is taking a historic step in space exploration by sending its first space traveler, Alper Gezeravcı, to the International Space Station (ISS) on January 9, 2024. According to an announcement made by the Minister of Industry and Technology, Mehmet Fatih Kacır, on social media, Gezeravcı will serve on the #Ax3 mission alongside Spanish, Italian, and Swedish astronauts.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced at the TEKNOFEST event in Istanbul that Alper Gezeravcı and Tuva Cihangir Atasever have been selected as Turkey’s first space travelers. Gezeravcı is an F-16 pilot in the Air Force, and Atasever is an avionics system engineer at Roketsan. Gezeravcı will spend 14 days on the ISS, conducting various experiments.
Born in 1979 in Mersin, Alper Gezeravcı studied Electronic Engineering and served in the Turkish Air Force for 21 years. During his mission on the ISS, he will work on 13 different experiments prepared by universities and research councils.
