Turkey and Piloted Spaceflight

For the last few years, Halil Kayikci, an undergraduate student at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), introduces himself as an astronaut and gives speeches in various schools and programs, using the name NASA in some television programs. In addition, news and videos about kis The Youngest Turkish Astronaut. In summary, in 2013, the group Unilever deodorant brand Ax , released a new series of commercials pomoting the idea that a young man from Turkey will go into space. This ad campaign said anyone who wanted to on the internet will be able to apply in a lottery, and yhr Ax Apollo Space Academy (AASA) will give a 4-day training. Halil Kayikçi was one of the three people who was in the Ax promotional video in the preliminaries and was one of the 3 Turks who were going to Ax Apollo Space Academy. Afterwards, after 4 days of training and elimination, he became one of the 23 finalists. However, after many postponements, the latest statement made by XCOR Aerospace on May 31, 2016, the company reported that the space shuttle R & D work has stopped and postponed flights indefinitely.

Russia’s space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin offered Turkey help with sending its very first astronaut into space – an enticing way to mark the Turkish Republic’s 100th anniversary. The head of Roscosmos made the suggestion during the MAKS-2019 airshow on 27 August 2019, as he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader attended the opening of the biannual airshow alongside his Russian host Vladimir Putin. “We have a joint proposal for you – to send a Turkish astronaut into orbit to mark the Republic’s anniversary. The Cosmonaut Training Center is ready to work on this,” Rogozin told Erdogan, referring to the upcoming celebrations of the Republic’s founding in 1923.

Moscow is seeking to deepen cooperation with Turkey in the space field, Rogozin added, and “a variety of options” for collaboration has been discussed. Erdogan has apparently been flattered by the offer. “We will participate in your esteemed work. I thank you on behalf of our country, thank you for the work you have done,” he said.

Turkey has been working on sending a man into space for a couple of years already. Ankara’s space ambitions were further reinforced last year, when it formally established the county’s national space agency.