Alper Gezeravcı: We have a plan for a hard landing on the Moon in 2026

Having completed his training in the United States (USA), Alper Gezeravcı came to Sakarya following his programs. Turkey's first astronaut, Gezeravcı, provided information about space travel during his meeting with the youth. Gezeravcı, who met with university students at the Turgut Özal Culture and Congress Center, was met with great interest.

Providing information about the experimental studies he conducted at the International Space Station (ISS), Gezeravcı said, "In all the work processes we have done, there is a matter that I have always been happy and proud of, both when I was in the air force and when I went abroad for master's degree training on different aircraft types: the practical intelligence of the Turkish people. 

In the examples you encounter abroad during your ongoing education or in your career life after graduation, be sure that you will have the opportunity to personally experience the pride and happiness I feel, and see what the practical intelligence that the Turkish people have developed and carried with them, which allows them to cope with years of adversity, is capable of. I am incredibly proud of this practical intelligence. 

Within the operation you are carrying out, in different operational steps and processes, the practical intelligence that the body displays at a point where things are locked up, without even finding the opportunity to think, is unique to the Turkish people. Therefore, in addition to your already high potential and high intelligence, be proud of this practical intelligence that will always keep you afloat like a lifebuoy," he said.

"10 MAIN GOALS DETERMINED REGARDING SPACE"

Speaking about the country's goals, Gezeravcı said, "In 2018, our country established the Turkish Space Agency. After only a two-year preparation process, in February 2021, 10 main goals regarding space were determined by our President as the Republic of Turkey. The Turkish astronaut and science mission we carried out was just one of these ten goals. Today, we are experiencing the happiness and pride of this goal achieved with such a beautiful community here. However, the matter we will be even more proud of is this; progress continues within different calendars in these ten areas set by our state. 

We have currently completed only one of them. In the near future, some of the developments you will hear about within the sequential calendar of these ten determined goals include the Moon mission project. As you know, we carried out the mission we performed with the rocket and capsule of the SpaceX company in the United States. We have a plan for a hard landing on the Moon, which is currently targeted for 2026. Our first goal is to plan to crash a rocket into the Moon by correctly calculating different variables. 

After that, there will be a soft landing in a more planned manner, and we are trying to deliver a payload—this could be a rover or a similar load capable of conducting research there—to the surface in a controlled way. We are not doing this with a rocket we procured from other countries. We are planning to carry out this work with our own rocket and our own propulsion system," he said.

"WE HAVE NO DOUBTS ABOUT OUR INTELLIGENCE"

Giving advice to university students, Gezeravcı said, "The mission we carried out truly made us happy, but our preparation process took a time frame of approximately 8 and a half to 9 months. What made me even happier during this time was seeing that while our training processes were ongoing there, the different processes that our country has achieved and succeeded in the field of aviation were being followed by the units and authorities at NASA and in the countries where we went for training, and hearing their praise in return. 

While focusing on a mission and preparing for it, I had the opportunity to experience much different happiness and pride there as an individual and a citizen of our country, again thanks to the strong will of our state. 

Hundreds of people were working within SpaceX, where we conducted this space flight program. The average age of these people, who control the massive rocket with software under their hands, send it to space, and provide us with our training throughout the entire operational process, was 26, and they have engineers who have just graduated from university. Therefore, these people did not wait until their 50s. Young minds are capable of achieving things; the only thing they need is self-confidence. We have no doubts about our intelligence and potential," he stated.