NASA veteran hails Türkiye’s space efforts, foresees more Turkish astronauts

A former NASA official has praised Türkiye’s space achievements, saying she expects the country will send more astronauts into orbit after its first two spaceflights in 2024.

Kimberly Robinson, also chief executive of the US Space and Rocket Center, told Anadolu at Türkiye’s premier aviation, space, and technology festival TEKNOFEST: “I believe 53 countries have gone into space, and I just welcome Türkiye coming into space with the rest of us.”

Türkiye sent Col. Alper Gezeravci to the International Space Station on Axiom Space’s Ax-3 mission in January 2024, its first manned spaceflight. In June, Tuva Cihangir Atasever became the country’s second space traveler on Virgin Galactic’s suborbital Galactic 07 flight.

Robinson, who met the Axiom crew in the US, said: “I hope this will be a growing trend, and we’ll have more and more Turkish astronauts in the future.”

- Second golden age

Robinson said the world is experiencing a “second golden age” of space exploration, following the first era marked by the moon landings in the late 1960s.

“I am very excited about the future of space exploration,” she said, adding that NASA has huge plans to return humans to the moon, not just for days at a time but for long durations, and then to build the architecture to go onward to Mars.

"I must say, as a veteran of NASA for many many years, I think space exploration is a wonderful endeavor," she said, noting that space exploration inspires young people to solve complex problems and develop technologies that improve life on Earth.

“It increases our prosperity and our quality of life, and I hope that this will continue to encourage the younger generation to get involved in space exploration and other endeavors,” she said.

- Securing Türkiye’s future

Speaking about TEKNOFEST, held this year at Istanbul Atatürk Airport, Robinson said: “First of all, I just want to say how excited I am to be here. What a wonderful festival it is and what a great idea. I love the involvement by the young people. It is definitely securing the future of Türkiye to make sure that the young people are embracing technology and events like the TEKNOFEST.”

The festival, organized under the Ministry of Industry and Technology and the T3 Foundation, with Anadolu as its global communication partner, is billed as the world’s largest aviation, space, and technology event.

“It is wonderfully organized, and I applaud Türkiye on its efforts to continue to feed into the new age of space exploration and technology development,” Robinson said.