ANKARA — In a break from the bitter political bickering, a staggering economic crisis and the regional military escalation, some Turks on Thursday night tuned in to live national TV to watch Turkey's first astronaut, Alper Gezeravci, travel to space.
The Turkish air force colonel joined the four-member crew as a mission specialist on part of the first all-European commercial astronaut mission, Axiom-3, to the International Space Station (ISS).
A SpaceX Falcon rocket lifted off carrying crew aboard the Dragon Capsule from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:49 p.m. Eastern time (12:49 a.m. Istanbul time), and will dock at the Harmony module on Friday at the ISS after roughly 48 hours of travel, NASA officials said in a prelaunch press conference on Tuesday.
The team, led by retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, also includes Axiom-3 pilot Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei and Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt. They are set to spend two weeks at the ISS to conduct more than 30 different experiments.
