Turkish astronaut ready to carry dreams of his people to 'depths of space'

The first Turkish would-be space traveller, Colonel Alper Gezeravci, who is currently in quarantine with teammates in the US state of Florida, has emphasised his trip to space is not the end goal but "just a beginning."

Asked by Anadolu Agency about his feelings before the historic journey, Gezeravci said he worked as a military and civilian pilot "who has had to limit his ambitions to the visible skyline so far."

But "that this is no longer the case for our future generations. Their path will be wide open," he said.

Gezeravci said his travel will "carry the dreams of Turkish people from the sky to the depths of space."

Underlining that Türkiye has been involved in space studies with domestic satellite technologies for years, Gezeravci said: "This journey is not a goal for us; it is just a tool to achieve what we want to achieve in space studies."

Emphasising that sending humans to space will take Turkish space research to a new phase, Gezeravci said he is "grateful" for all people and government institutions involved in making the space dreams of Turkish youth a reality.

"With the strong initiative of our state and the opportunities provided by our grateful nation, I am here to fulfil this duty. We are making it happen. I will be returning as soon as possible after completing the duty entrusted to me," he said.

Black rings for performance analysis

When asked about the black ring that Gezeravci and his Swedish teammate, Marcus Wandt, wore on their fingers, Gezeravci said, "We use these state-of-the-art rings to collect some data about our daily performance."

Stating that space infrastructure developer Axiom has assigned them Spanish trainer Emiliano Ventura and closely monitors their physical condition, Gezeravci said, adding that "he gives us advanced athletic training. We will wear these rings at the International Space Center, as well as here, to measure and compare our personal performance data."

Türkiye's first manned space mission will depart for the International Space Station at 01:11 am local time on January 18 (2211 GMT on January 17).

Gezeravci with the Axiom Mission 3 [Ax-3] crew will be launched from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inside a Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The crew is expected to dock with the International Space Station on January 19 at 01:15 pm.