Turkey’s first astronaut, Alper Gezeravcı, reached outer space in a spacecraft belonging to SpaceX early last Friday (January 19). In Gezeravcı’s first words from the spacecraft, the astronaut opened with a quote commonly attributed to Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, saying, “The future is in the skies.”
Following a lift-off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in the early hours of Friday morning, Gezeravcı reached the International Space Station (ISS) along with colleagues from Spain, Italy, and Sweden. Gezeravcı will stay at the ISS for 14 days, during which he will participate in 13 scientific experiments.
In a live message, Turkey’s first astronaut shared his first words from space, saying(In Turkish): “As a member of Turkey’s first space mission and the first Turkish person to set foot in outer space, I would like to start by quoting our founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: ‘The future is in the skies.'” Gezeravcı summarized the successful blast-off from Florida and then proceeded to thank several colleagues individually.
Gezeravcı’s 2012 removal from the Turkish military comes to light
On the day prior to Gezeravcı’s historic space flight, news of the astronaut’s 2012 removal from the Turkish military came to light in a story published by 10haber journalist Ersin Eroğlu. According to Eroğlu’s reporting, Gezeravcı was removed from the armed forces on November 12, 2012 following an investigation that linked the then-combat pilot to the Fethullah Gülen movement (FETÖ). A former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Islamist FETÖ movement later fell out with the ruling party, and was subsequently blamed for 2016’s failed coup d’etat attempt. Since the group’s 2016 designation as a ‘terrorist organization’ by the Turkish government, thousands of rank-and-file throughout Turkish bureaucracy and academia have been purged for alleged links with the group.
Gezeravcı returned to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in 2020 after winning the case against him, which ended up absolving the now-astronaut of all FETÖ ties. Following his return to the TSK, Gezeravcı took on a role in which he was responsible for review and inspection of the air force fleets.
Gezeravcı speaks with President Erdoğan from International Space Station
Today (January 22), the astronaut spoke with President Erdoğan in a live call from the ISS. In the call, Gezeravcı spoke about the scientific tests being carried out aboard the space station and about tests to be carried out in the coming days.
Congratulating Gezeravcı, Erdoğan said: “As a member of the Turkish Air Force, you were the most suitable candidate for the job. You have now far exceeded any altitude that you reached as a pilot. You’ve experienced a difficult journey in making it to this point.”
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
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