Axiom Space signs agreement with Turkey to launch first Turkish astronaut in 2023

US-based commercial aerospace company Axiom Space has signed an agreement with the Government of Turkey to send the country’s first astronaut to space. Mustafa Varank, the Industry and Technology Minister, announced that Turkey will cooperate with Axiom Space for the selection of the astronaut who will travel on the country's 100-year anniversary in 2023. The agreement was officially signed at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris, on September 19.

"We signed a historical agreement on the first manned space mission to be carried out in the 100th anniversary of our Republic", the Minister tweeted. "We will cooperate with Axiom Space for the training and flight service of the Turkish space traveler whose selection process is ongoing".

The announcement comes just a few months after Sierra Space, another commercial company, inked a deal with the Turkish space agency, to send astronauts to the space station and future Moon missions. 

Since Axiom Space is building the world’s first commercial space station, the astronauts to be sent into space will also contribute to the research experiments planned in the low-Earth orbit. "This mission is a part of Türkiye’s ambitious 10-year space road map, which includes missions to the low-Earth orbit and the Moon as well as developing internationally viable satellite systems.” said Serdar Hüseyin Yıldırım, President of Turkey's space agency (TUA). 

In the coming days, the engaged parties will be carrying out the selection process, followed by astronaut training, before finalising the timeline for the mission. Axiom Space says that it offers a wide range of services which include training and flying private astronauts, offering access to training facilities and instructors, hardware and safety certification, and operational on-orbit management. 

Turkey's space program

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in 2021, unveiled the country's National Space Program which aims to send an astronaut to space and launch a fully indigenous rocket to the Moon. Earlier in May this year, Erdogan revealed that the country has started its preparations to send a citizen astronaut to the low-Earth orbit and that applications for the program to turn residents into astronauts are being accepted.

As part of the Program, Turkey's space agency also struck a deal with Sierra Space for cargo and astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and the Moon. Read more about it here.