Who is Alper Gezeravci, the first Turk to go into space?

He should become the first representative of his country to go into space. 44-year-old Turk Alper Gezeravci is preparing to fly to the ISS this Wednesday evening from the US base at Cape Canaveral in Florida (USA) on a 14-day mission. Takeoff is scheduled for 17:11 Florida time or 23:11 Paris time.

Alper Gezeravci is an Air Force Colonel with 21 years of service and serves as a fighter pilot. He is due to join the international station in the company of a Swede, an Italian and a Spaniard aboard Axiom’s private shuttle, thus securing its third mission in partnership with NASA, the US space agency.

He declares that he is ready to “take the dreams of the Turkish people into the depths of space.” “This trip is not an end goal for us, but just a means to achieve the goals of our space research,” he told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

Veteran pilot of the Turkish army.

As a Turkish Air Force fighter pilot, Alper Gezeravci has 15 years of experience flying numerous aircraft, including the T-41, SF-260, T-37, T-38, F-5, KC-135 and the famous F-16, as well used by the US Army. In addition, he was a captain for Turkish Airlines (the national airline) for seven years, as well as a captain, flight safety officer and captain for a commercial airline.

Before training for space flight, he was assigned to the 10th Command Unit at the Adana base, in the south of the country, near the Mediterranean Sea. He was responsible for evaluating his squadron’s performance, maintaining all training records to Air Force standards, arranging exams for all F-16 and KC-135R pilots prior to checkout flights, and reviewing squadron documentation standards.

A sports enthusiast, Alper Gezeravci enjoys scuba diving, sailing and rafting. He has extensive experience in mountain hiking and horse riding. Additionally, his military training has allowed him to participate in numerous survival courses, Axiom highlights in its pilot biography.

Turkish space strategy led by Erdogan

“We see this mission as a symbol of an increasingly powerful and assertive Turkey,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday evening. “May this trip of our brother Alper benefit all our people and our youth,” the Head of State added, wishing him “good luck.”

He himself presented the Alper Gezeravka mission between the two rounds of the presidential elections, in May 2023, and repeatedly recalled the importance of this flight for the country. “We are on the verge of achieving our goal of sending one of our fellow citizens into space. Be proud, Turks! “he said last week, clarifying that the astronaut will conduct 13 experiments prepared by the country’s universities.

Turkey leads a serious space program through its satellites and its space agency, created in 2018. Sending the first Turk to the ISS was the first of 10 goals of the Turkish space strategy presented in 2021.

These first steps into space come at the right time for Turkish President Erdogan, who is keen to impose his country on the international stage but whose offers of mediation have not met with the success he expected, either in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, or in this conflict. fall between Israel and Hamas.