Turkey begins preparations to send the first Turkish astronaut to the International Space Station. This was announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the government session.
“As part of the National Space Program, we are officially starting the process of sending our citizens to the International Space Station,” Erdogan said.
According to the Turkish press, any citizen under the age of 45 who wants to become the first astronaut in the country must register on a special website created by the government. Applications will be accepted until June 23 of this year.
In February last year, the head of the Turkish space agency, Serdar Huseyin Yildirim, said that Ankara would most likely approve the option of sending a Turkish citizen into space by a Russian Soyuz rocket in 2023.
In 2021, Erdogan announced a national space program.
At one of the points of this program, the candidates included in the group of Turkish astronauts will take part in training courses in preparation for space flight.