ANKARA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye's first space traveler, Alper Gezeravci, will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on January 18 (local time) as part of Axiom Mission 3, Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir announced on Friday.
"This historic mission will be a great source of inspiration for future generations as well as being an important milestone in Türkiye's space science studies," Kacir said on X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Gezeravci will join Spanish, Italian, and Swedish astronauts on the mission organized by Axiom Space, an American privately funded space infrastructure developer. They will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the United States and dock with the ISS on January 19.
During his 14-day stay at the ISS, Gezeravci will conduct 13 different scientific experiments as part of Türkiye's first manned space mission.
Türkiye established the Turkish Space Agency in 2018 and announced its space program in 2019, aiming to send a crewed mission into space. ■
