SpaceX launches first Turkish astronaut aboard private European space mission

CNN:  A SpaceX rocket took off for the International Space Station on another trailblazing mission operated entirely by the private sector. On board is a group of European astronauts, including the first person from Turkey to visit outer space.

The mission is the latest in a series of endeavors from the private sector — bolstered by NASA — that aim to churn up business activity in Earth’s orbit. The United States has for years aimed to increase commercial activity in space as NASA looks ahead to retiring the International Space Station and allowing private space stations to take over so the space agency can focus on missions deeper into the solar system, such as to the moon and Mars.

Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was slated for Wednesday, but the company was forced to delay the mission as it worked to complete final checks before launch. Benji Reed, Space X’s senior director of human spaceflight programs, told reporters during a news briefing Tuesday that teams had to work through the weekend to address issues with parachutes on the Crew Dragon capsule, which sits atop the Falcon 9 during launch.

The rocket ultimately took off at 4:49 p.m. ET Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After reaching space, the Crew Dragon capsule broke away from the Falcon 9 rocket and began navigating on its own, making a slow approach to the space station. The Crew Dragon is expected to dock at the orbiting outpost early Saturday morning.

The four-person crew on board Axiom-3, as this mission is called, includes Alper Gezeravcı — pronounced “Geh-zeh-rahv-juh” — a fighter pilot with the Turkish air force who is on track to mark a historic milestone as the first citizen of Turkey to reach low-Earth orbit.

Also on board is Walter Villadei, a member of the Italian air force, and Marcus Wandt, who was selected as a member of the European Space Agency’s astronaut reserve in 2022.

Leading the journey is Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut who now serves as a mission commander for Axiom Space, the Houston-based company that organized this trip with SpaceX and NASA.

The Aximo-3 crew is pictured during training for their mission. - Courtesy of Axiom Space

Research in space

The Axiom-3 crew is expected to spend 14 days on the space station, working alongside the seven astronauts already on board the orbiting laboratory.

The group will have “a full docket of research, over 30 experiments,” Axiom President Matt Ondler said during a December news briefing about the mission. “The crew will be continually working on experiments and research programs. In fact, we had more research than we could fit into the mission, which I think is a great example of how much demand there is.”