Alper Gezeravcı

Alper Gezeravcı (born 2 December 1979) is a military pilot and the first Turkish astronaut. He flew to International Space Station by taking part in a special space flight on 18 January 2024 with the Axiom Mission 3 (or Ax-3) mission.

Early life He was born in Silifke, Mersin, to a family of Yörük descent.

Colonel Pilot Alper Gezeravcı was among the soldiers expelled from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in 2012 as part of the investigation into the FETÖ's espionage conspiracy in Izmir. He was acquitted and cleared in 2020, subsequently returning to the TSK.

Career

His appointment was announced in late April 2023 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Gezeravcı stated that he did salah ash-shukr (prayer of gratitude) in space and stated that people should be grateful for gravity. He explained that the 8-pointed Seljuk star on his mission patch carried "very important meanings" and represents the "fundamental principles of Islam." Gezeravcı also stated that he found oppurtunity to engage in Islamic contemplation and encouraged youth to preserve faith, citing Islamic engineers and astronomers al-Jazari and Ali Qushji as inspiration. The Turkish government frames the pursuit of aerospace and technological dominance not as Westernization, but as a "reclamation" of the science and technology heritage of the "Turkish-Islamic past", citing figures such as al-Jazari, Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi, and Ibn Sina. The pursuit of technology is framed as inherently Islamic. Alper Gezeravcı's first words in space, with a reference to the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, were "The future is in the skies."

He studied electronic engineering at the Turkish Air Force Academy and at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio. He is a pilot in the Turkish Air Force, with 21 years of experience; he flies F-16s.