Tuva Cihangir Atasever, Türkiye's second astronaut, announced Thursday that during his space mission on Saturday, he will carry the flag of Azerbaijan alongside the Turkish flag on his chest. "Just as these two nations stand side by side on Earth, they will also be side by side during my space journey," Atasever stated.
Atasever told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the "Turkish Space Science Mission Suborbital Research Flight" on June 8 is part of the Ax-3 mission, which began in April 2023 in Houston, Texas, U.S., and extends to the International Space Station (ISS). He emphasized that this is a training step with no additional cost, saying, "The Ministry of Industry and Technology, TÜBİTAK Space, and the Turkish Space Agency (TUA) have turned this training step into a scientific mission. We selected seven different scientific experiments and have been working on integrating them into the spacecraft for months. We created a new scientific mission without any additional cost."
"I hope that the experiments we will conduct during this flight will significantly contribute to space research and studies in our country," he said.
Atasever highlighted that this flight was the first for Türkiye, similar to the research flight conducted by Italians in Virgin Galactic's Galactic-1 Mission.
Atasever also mentioned that Walter Villadei, the pilot of the Ax-3 mission and a member of the team with Türkiye's first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı, performed 13 different experiments during the three minutes of microgravity in their flight. He noted, "The experiences gained in these three minutes provide a valuable research opportunity that sheds light on experiments that would take longer on Earth."
He explained that reduced gravity environments between 2-20 seconds can be achieved using drop towers and parabolic flights, but these methods do not provide as low gravity as a space flight. Therefore, the suborbital research flight they will perform is very valuable for scientific research.
Atasever detailed that Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft will travel to an altitude of approximately 45,000 feet (14 kilometers) with a carrier vehicle. After the carrier vehicle is released, the hybrid motor will ignite, reaching an altitude of 90 kilometers within a minute.
During the flight, they will experience 4.5 G force and travel at three times the speed of sound. Before reaching maximum altitude, when the rocket motor stops burning, it will enter the free-fall phase, and microgravity conditions will form for the experiments. "Three of our experiments will be on the special suit designed for the flight. After about three minutes of free fall, our vehicle will re-enter the atmosphere. Since the rocket motor will have exhausted its fuel and there is no other propulsion system, we will glide back to the runway from which we took off," he explained.
"Parachutes will be our most important safety measure during the flight. We have received training for any emergency scenarios that may arise. This training will be more comprehensive during the training week in the U.S. before the flight."
Atasever described carrying a near-infrared spectroscopy measurement device on his head for the BEACON brain imaging experiment, monitoring blood distribution and cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in the prefrontal cortex for 1.5 hours during all flight phases.
In microgravity, fluids that normally remain in the lower parts of the body collect towards the skull, increasing intracranial pressure and impairing astronauts' vision. "The effect of cerebrospinal fluid in this situation will be observed for the first time in a space flight. Additionally, the 'overview effect,' the psychological change and transformation experienced by seeing the Earth from that distant point, will be examined in my brain," he added.
Atasever also mentioned the "IvmeRad Radiation Dosimeter" experiment, which will measure the radiation exposure they experience. This experiment aims to develop a smart radiation dosimeter with local resources for future space station travelers, performing its first space test.
For the "Insulin Pen Test (UZİKAT)" in space, they will observe how effectively two different insulin pens, placed in a special box, deliver doses in a microgravity environment. This experiment aims to prepare diabetic individuals for travel to space stations in the future.
Atasever shared that they went to Axiom Space facilities in the U.S. on May 28 to conduct some experiments and are now at the Spaceport facility in New Mexico, where the launch will take place.
They have been receiving training for the flight this week and have conducted aerobatic flights with high-maneuverability aircraft to test the experimental equipment they will carry in the microgravity environment.
