Turkey’s second astronaut Tuva Cihangir Atasever, regarding his space expedition on June 8, said, “The Azerbaijani flag will be on my chest right next to the Turkish flag on the flight.”
Turkey’s second astronaut Tuva Cihangir Atasever, regarding the space expedition he will perform on June 8, “The Azerbaijani flag will be on my chest right next to the Turkish flag on the flight. Just as the flags of these two countries are side by side on the ground, these two nations are shoulder to shoulder, they will be side by side during my space journey.”
Atasever told AA correspondent that the “Turkish Space Science Mission Suborbital Research Flight” to be held on June 8 is a training step designed as part of the Ax-3 mission, which will start in Houston, USA in April 2023 and extend to the International Space Station (ISS).
Emphasizing that this is therefore a space flight that they will perform “without incurring any additional costs”, Atasever said:
“As the Ministry of Industry and Technology, TÜBİTAK UZAY and the Turkish Space Agency (TUA), we have turned this training step into a scientific mission. We chose 7 different scientific experiments. We have been working on their integration into the spacecraft for months. We have derived a new scientific mission for our space flight without any additional cost. I hope that the experiments we will perform within the scope of this flight will make a significant contribution to space research and studies in our country.”
“The Italians made a similar flight”
Pointing out that the flight was a first for Turkey, Atasever said that Italians made a similar research flight in the Galactic-1 Mission of Virgin Galactic.
Informing that Turkey’s first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı’s team included Walter Villadei, the pilot of the Ax-3 mission, Atasever said:
“Within the scope of the entire flight, they conducted 13 different experiments during that 3-minute microgravity period. The experiences gained in those 3 minutes are an important research opportunity that sheds light on experiments that will take longer in the world. In the world, a ‘reduced gravity’ environment ranging between 2-20 seconds can be obtained by means of drop towers and parabolic airplanes. The microgravity environment obtained with these methods is not as low as that of a space flight. Therefore, the suborbital research flight that we will be conducting right now is very valuable when conducting scientific research.”
“We have received the necessary safety trainings”
Stating that Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity spacecraft will travel together with a carrier vehicle up to an altitude of approximately 45 thousand feet (14 kilometers) within the scope of the flight, Atasever said that the carrier spacecraft will then be released and they will reach an altitude of 90 kilometers within 1 minute with the ignition of the hybrid engine.
Stating that they will be subjected to a gravitational acceleration of 4.5 G force during the flight and will reach a speed three times the speed of sound, Atasever said that before reaching the maximum altitude, from the moment the rocket engine finishes burning, they will enter the free fall phase.
Emphasizing that from this moment on, microgravity conditions will be created and experiments will begin, Atasever gave the following information:
“Three of the experiments we will perform will be on my jumpsuit specially designed for flight. After the free fall phase, which will last approximately 3 minutes, our vehicle will re-enter the atmosphere. Meanwhile, since the rocket engine on the vehicle has run out of fuel and there is no other propulsion system, we will glide and land on the runway from which we took off. Pilots have a great job here. The most important safety precautions taken during the flight will be the parachutes on us. We have also received trainings for any emergency scenario that may occur. These trainings will be more comprehensive during the training week in the USA before the flight.”
