Türkiye’s 2nd astronaut Atasever embarks on historic journey into space
Türkiye's second astronaut Tuva Cihangir Atasever waves at people as he arrives at the Spaceport facility where he will take off to space from New Mexico, U.S. on June 8, 2024. (AA Photo)
A team of astronauts, including Türkiye’s second space traveler, Tuva Cihangir Atasever, is set to lift off from the U.S. state of New Mexico early on Saturday for a suborbital research flight aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity.
Atasever will be a research astronaut aboard the spacecraft’s final flight, designated Galactic 07. The blastoff will be at 8:30 a.m. local time (0230 GMT), with a total of six crew members, including three astronauts – two American and one Italian – and two pilots.
The flight is expected to last about 70 minutes, with the VSS Unity reaching an altitude of roughly 45,000 feet (over 13,700 meters) on a carrier aircraft. It will then activate its hybrid propulsion system to rise to approximately 55 miles (90 kilometers).
7 scientific experiments
Atasever will conduct seven scientific experiments under microgravity conditions during the roughly three-minute free-fall phase.
One of the experiments Atasever will conduct is the “Beacon” brain imaging experiment. This experiment utilizes a near-infrared spectroscopy device on his head to examine blood flow in the brain’s prefrontal cortex and cerebrospinal fluid dynamics.
Additionally, samples from Atasever will be collected to study psychological changes resulting from viewing Earth from space.
Who is Atasever?
Atasever was born on August 12, 1992, in Ankara, Türkiye. He graduated from Bilkent University’s Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and completed his master’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Afterward, he worked for five years as an avionics system engineer at Roketsan, a Turkish weapons manufacturer and defense contractor.
