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Turkish astronaut will be able to fly aboard Russia’s Soyuz

The head of the Turkish Space Agency is attending a special event in the presidential palace where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will present the national space program Tuesday

ANKARA, February 9. /TASS/. Turkey is very likely to use Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to send its astronaut to space, head of the Turkish Space Agency Serdar Huseyin Yildirim told TASS Tuesday.

"This is a strong possibility because Soyuz is a very reliable vehicle, we know already that, it has very good experience in space. So, it is strongly possible, but we must speak about it. But, of course, we are considering it," Yildirim said.

The head of the Turkish Space Agency is attending a special event in the presidential palace where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will present the national space program Tuesday.

In late May 2018, Azerbaijan’s Trend News Agency cited its sources in the Turkish cabinet to report that Ankara is planning to launch its own astronaut training program after 2023 and is willing to earmark $6 billion to this end. The legislative basis was already laid down in autumn 2016. If implemented, this will be one of the largest and most ambitious projects in modern Turkey.

In September 2018, Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, chief Dmitry Rogozin told Anadolu Agency that Turkey could join the joint project between Russia and Kazakhstan to use the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Rogozin also noted that Russia is ready to train a Turkish crew for the International Space Station flight in 2023 when Turkey will celebrate 100 years since it was founded.

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