Alper Gezeravcı (born 2 December 1979) is a military pilot and the first Turkish

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

. He flew to International Space Station by taking part in a special space flight on 18 January 2024 with the

Axiom Mission 3 Axiom Mission 3 (or Ax-3) is a planned private spaceflight to the International Space Station. The flight, scheduled to launch no earlier than January 2024, and expected to last about 14 days, will be operated by Axiom Space and be using a Crew ...

(or Ax-3) mission.

Early life

He was born in Silifke,

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

, to a family of Yörük descent. Colonel Pilot Alper Gezeravcı was among the soldiers expelled from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in 2012 as part of the investigation into the FETÖ's espionage conspiracy in Izmir. He was acquitted and cleared in 2020, subsequently returning to the TSK.

Career

His appointment was announced in late April 2023 by

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

. Gezeravcı spent 21 days in space as part of the Axiom Space-3 mission in January-February 2024. He flew with three other international astronauts from the Kennedy Space Center aboard a

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Crew Dragon, launched by the Falcon 9 rocket. Gezeravcı brought along the Turkish flag, family photos, and some items related to Yörük culture. Alper Gezeravcı's first words in space, with a reference to the founder of the Turkish Republic,

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

, were "The future is in the skies." He studied electronic engineering at the

Turkish Air Force Academy The Turkish Air Force Academy (TuAFA) ( tr, Hava Harp Okulu) is a four-year co-educational military academy located in the city of Istanbul, Turkey. It is part of the National Defence University. It is the main human resource for the Turkish Ai ...

and also studied at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio. He is a pilot in the Turkish Air Force, with 21 years of experience; he flies

F-16s The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

References

1979 births Living people People from Silifke Turkish Air Force officers Turkish aviators Turkish Air Force Academy alumni Turkish electronics engineers Turkish astronauts {{Turkey-bio-stub