Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, in a discussion on Tuesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan offered to send a Turkish astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS), the Hürriyet Daily News reported.
“We have a joint offer for you — to send a Turkish astronaut into orbit to celebrate the republic’s anniversary. The Cosmonaut Training Center is ready to work on this,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, said in reference to the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic to be celebrated on Oct. 29, 2023.
The offer was made during the joint visit of Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to the MAKS-2019 International Aviation and Space Salon.
“We will participate in your esteemed work. I thank you on behalf of our country, thank you for the work you have done,” Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan and Putin attended the inauguration of MAKS-2019, one of the world’s leading events in its field.
In December 2018 Turkey’s Official Gazette published a presidential decree announcing the establishment of the country’s space agency aiming to draft and carry out a national space program.
The ISS, stationed in low Earth orbit, serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory for scientists to conduct experiments in various fields.