A senior Turkish official announced Thursday that Türkiye's pioneering manned space mission is scheduled to embark for the International Space Station at 1:11 a.m. local time on Jan.18.
Col. Alper Gezeravci with the Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) crew will head to the International Space Station, Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"This historic mission will be a great source of inspiration for future generations as well as being an important milestone in Türkiye's space science studies," Kacır said.
Highlighting the substantial significance of endeavors within the realm of artificial intelligence, Kacır underscored the immense value they attach to such initiatives.
He explained that their primary focus lies in harnessing the potential of big data to generate value, thereby extending support to projects aimed at fostering innovative products and services across diverse sectors encompassing agriculture, energy, healthcare and transportation.
Moreover, Kacır emphasized the prioritization of collaboration between universities and entities from the private sector, including technology startups, enterprises and larger corporations.
"To this end, we are actively promoting the TÜBİTAK Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem Calls. Recently, we commemorated the signing ceremony for the second private sector call, which saw an increase from 17 to 50 projects.
TÜBİTAK will contribute over a million TL in this initiative. We also anticipate unveiling the outcomes of our forthcoming public artificial intelligence call in the upcoming weeks. This call aims to facilitate access to public big data for artificial intelligence developers, thereby fostering the creation of value-added solutions," he remarked.
The Ax-3 crew will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inside a Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The crew is expected to dock with the International Space Station on Jan.19 at 1:15 p.m.
The Turkish Space Agency (TUA) designed a special commemorative stamp and envelope and PTT, the national post and telegraph directorate, for Türkiye's first manned space mission, in which Gezeravci will raise the Turkish flag in space.
The stamp features various symbols, each with a special meaning for the important journey, including a silhouette of Gezeravci with a patch of the Turkish flag on his shoulder. Türkiye selected Gezeravci, a Turkish Air Force F-16 pilot, as the country's first prospective space traveler last year during the major technology event TEKNOFEST.
The Turkish Space Agency was established in 2018 and announced its space program in 2019, as well as its intention to send a crewed mission into space.