Going to space can be an exciting experience for many people. Being able to see other planets near and far from the Earth, going to the moon and looking at the world from there can be very exciting for me. I think making scientific discoveries and at the same time exceeding the limits of humanity are not very distant goals. In my country, more importance has been given to space research lately. Even though we did not have great individual work of our own, there was a development in the past weeks that made us hopeful and proud. Turkey’s first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı went on a journey to the International Space Station with Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission 3 mission. Thus, he became the first Turk to go into space. Alper Gezeravcı is a very successful pilot whom we have not heard of until today. He was born in Silifke, one of the most beautiful places in Turkey. He took special training for many years. He became an electronics engineer and serves as an F-16 pilot in the Air Force. He continued to takes special training on the International Space Station (ISS).

I think it is very difficult for an ordinary person to survive a difficult mission like space travel. Fluids that should be distributed throughout the body accumulate in the upper parts of the body because there is no gravity. Your face can look fatter and older than it actually is. Special exercises need to be done to prevent the decrease in bone density and muscle mass. It is really a very challenging task. Everyone is curious about the missions Alper Gezeravcı will do in space. He has 13 missions in space, where he will stay for 13 days. Of these tasks, the one that interests me the most is an experiment about a plant taken from the Salt Lake. Salt Lake is a magnificent natural beauty in the middle of Turkey. Imagine a lake completely covered with salt, but various microorganisms and rare plants grow in it. Alper Gezeravcı will examine the interaction between the tolerance of endemic plants growing in the Salt Lake to high salinity and microgravity, and perhaps, thanks to this feature of these plants, they will also be able to be used in potential bases outside the Earth, on the Moon and Mars, which have high salt and metal content, as in the salt lake. Maybe one day in the future, plants will be able to be grown.

As a whole nation, we were really excited and proud. I hope that our young people will become more interested in space in the coming years. Our astronaut sometimes makes live broadcasts and live interviews from space. Very interesting questions are asked. The best question was which food he missed the most. The answer is cadsserole a kind of vegetable stew, a traditional Turkish dish. Well, if you go to space one day, which food will you miss the most?