Turkish astronaut says Crescent and Star flag propelled him into Earth orbit

By Tuba Ongun and Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) – Most astronauts have teams of scientists and engineers making careful calculations of fuel, load, and the pull of gravity to propel them into orbit, but Türkiye’s first-ever space traveler had a special edge, a tool never seen before in the history of space flight: a flag.

Asked late Tuesday to show what special items from Türkiye he had chosen to take with him into orbit, Alper Gezeravci proudly pointed to a Crescent and Star Turkish flag flying behind him on International Space Station and said: “My flag brought me!”

Col. Gezeravci, a Turkish Air Force pilot, also told how on his trip he brought along symbols of Turkish nomadic culture, hearkening to the country’s deep-rooted past, as well as family photos and a flight patch from the first squadron he flew in.

The Ax-3 mission, with Gezeravci on board, launched late last week from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket of private space company SpaceX, and later docked with the International Space Station.

During their two-week stay, the four-person team will do more than 30 scientific experiments, with Gezeravci responsible for 13 of them, or nearly half.

Speaking with a SpaceX media team, the experienced fighter pilot spoke enthusiastically about his first space flight, saying it is “amazing” to fly “without needing any wings,” without limitations, “being able to use all the space in all the dimensions and being aware of the fourth dimension as well.”

In jet flights, he said, pilots orient themselves to the ground, but in low-gravity flights, “all places around us (are) a ground platform … It was an amazing feeling from the very first second.”

On his view of Earth from the International Space Station, he said he first caught sight of Indonesian islands, adding: "They were beautiful. Like little diamonds, you know sparkling in the middle of this beautiful ocean."

He noted the vista of the “beautiful harmony of color together with the beautiful white of the globe. That set it all around.”

- Takes some time to control body

US-Spanish astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, leader of the Ax-3 crew, said it definitely takes some time to be able to control body motions in low gravity, trying to move around and not “knock things off the wall,” which he said happens more often than he would like.

As for the view from the station, he said: "Now we’re in a particularly tough orbit, just a timing thing. So what sure what we want to capture happens to be at night when we fly over it which is not great, obviously.”

He added: "We have a few more days up here yet. So hopefully as the days move on, that sunlit pattern moves gradually to the west."

On how the crew is doing during their two-week stay, including Gezeravci, Lopez-Alegria praised their performance, saying: “I'm pretty impressed with how quickly they've adapted.”

It's (a) pretty unique environment to try, and I don't mean just adapting to zero gravity,” he explained. “It's been busy, but I think it's been really good so far.”