Turkish space traveler to be launched on Falcon-9 rocket

By Irmak Akcan

ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye’s first space traveler Col. Alper Gezeravci will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the Ax-3 crew to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Ax-3 crew, housed in the SpaceX Dragon, will be launched attached to the Falcon-9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Florida at 5:11 p.m. EST Wednesday, (GMT2211).

The Falcon 9 rocket is designed by the US-based spacecraft maker SpaceX for the safe transportation of cargo and passengers into Earth's orbit and deep space.

The reusable rocket allows space travel to be more economic by eliminating the need for the company to remanufacture for every journey.

Falcon-9 rockets made a total of 289 take-offs and 246 landings, while the rockets were used 221 times in more than one flight, according to data from SpaceX.

However, the number of Falcon-9 rockets in company inventory is still unknown.

The rocket is 70 meters long, 3.7 meters wide, and weighs 550 kilograms, though, it is capable of carrying cargo as heavy as 22,000 kilograms in Earth’s low orbit, up to 8,300 kilograms in the geostationary orbit, and 4,000 kilograms to Mars.

It also features nine of the company’s in-house engine, named “Merlin,” liquid oxygen consisting of an aluminum-lithium mixture and kerosene (RP-1) fuel tanks used for the rocket.

More on the engine, “Merlin” allows rockets to be reusable, as it enables them to slow down while landing on Earth after a journey.

After the Falcon-9 reaches the desired orbit and the rocket separates from the Dragon capsule housing the crew, the engine powers the capsule to reach its destination.

The engine, which can be restarted multiple times, can be started once again immediately after it is disengaged.

As for Dragon capsule, it is 4 meters in diameter, 8.1 meters long and 9.3 cubic meters in volume.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim