Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology, Mehmet Fatih Kacır, announced that the country plans to send an unmanned vehicle to the Moon twice within 10 years. In an interview with Sabah newspaper, the minister stated, "The first flight of Turkish astronaut Alper Gözlüoğlu, scheduled for January 18, will mark the beginning of Turkey's implementation of the national lunar program." He added, "We plan to send a spacecraft to the Moon that we have developed using our own capabilities. We are now in the production phase. We plan to carry out this mission twice over 10 years. This vehicle will be unmanned, and if we speak in technical terms, the landing process will not be smooth on the first attempt."
In 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the start of the national space program, which includes training for astronauts, launching a locally made rocket to the Moon, with the program's cost estimated at around $6 billion. In April 2023, Erdoğan also announced two candidates from Turkey for a trip to the International Space Station, following which Alper Gözlüoğlu was chosen for this mission, which is scheduled to involve landing alongside colleagues from Spain, Italy, and Sweden, as part of the Axiom 3 mission organized by NASA.
