Gezeravcı made the following statements in the photo he shared on his social media account: ''As the first astronaut of Türkiye, being a part of this exciting journey that started from a village in Silifke, Mersin and reached the sky is a source of great pride and honor for me.''
"While proudly advancing to make my country a respected force in international science and technology, the classic pose with the Crescent and Star flag, which has become synonymous with TEKNOFEST, accompanies me."
"I hope that every son and daughter of this country takes inspiration from this story, becoming a source of hope for the future!"
The Ax-3 mission, with Gezeravcı on board, launched late last week from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket of private space company SpaceX, and later docked with the International Space Station.
The four-person team will do more than 30 scientific experiments during their two-week stay, with Gezeravcı responsible for 13 of them.
