Excitement builds across Turkiye as the nation eagerly anticipates the historic launch of its first astronaut, Alper Gezeravci, scheduled to take place on Thursday. The private spaceflight Axion Mission 3 is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, just after midnight Bulgarian time or at 1:11 a.m. Turkish time.

Specially installed planetariums in Ankara and Istanbul will provide a live view of the launch ceremony. Gezeravci's entire space journey will be closely monitored by ground station engineers and scientists from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkiye.

The launch event will also be streamed at science centers in various Turkish cities, including Konya, Bursa, Antalya, Trabzon, and Kayseri. Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacir, along with a delegation of scientists, has traveled to the U.S. to witness the launch in person, as reported by Turkish TV channel NTV.

Turkiye's national space program, announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2021, reaches a milestone with the historic space journey of Alper Gezeravci. Born on December 2, 1979, in Silifke, Southern Turkey, Gezeravci, a former F-16 fighter pilot with 21 years of service in the Turkish Air Force, is set to make the nation proud with this significant achievement.