Turkish Space-Traveler Begins to Conduct Scientific Experiments

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Istanbul: The Turkish Space Agency (TUA) announced that Alper Gezeravci, the first Turkish space traveler, has commenced scientific research aboard the International Space Station.
Launched as part of the Ax-3 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX, the crew, including Gezeravci, docked at the ISS at 5:42 am EST.
During their 14-day stay, the four-person team will undertake over 30 scientific research projects, with Gezeravci overseeing 13 of them.
The TUA highlighted that the first experiment, named Extremophyte, was developed by Ege University in Izmir. This experiment aims to utilize next-generation sequencing to reveal the transcriptome of plants exposed to salt stress, both in space and on Earth. The goal is to compare physiological and molecular responses of glycophytic and halophytic plants to salt stress in microgravity.