Turkey’s first astronaut was given a hero’s welcome in Turkey on Monday after returning to Earth last Friday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, as part of the Axiom-3 mission. After landing aboard a plane at Ankara’s Esenboğa International Airport, Alper Gezeravcı was greeted today by a crowd of children and several authorities, carrying in his hand a handful of Turkish flags that he took into space during his two-week stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
“This is just a beginning,” Gezeravcı – a former fighter pilot and a Turkish Airlines captain – told reporters waiting for him upon his arrival at Ankara airport. “I have returned to my country with the happiness of having achieved goals that surpass the limits that we can see with our eyes in the sky, and which until now have been the boundaries of dreams,” he added.
Afterwards, the first Turkish astronaut was welcomed by Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been closely following his mission and spoke by video conference with Gezeravcı from the ISS, assuring him that he will be “the first of many more”. In fact, Turkey has plans not only to send more astronauts into space, but to develop its own space rockets and send missions to the Moon.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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