Ax-3 mission crew docks at International Space Station

Istanbul, Turkey - The Ax-3 space mission crew, including Türkiye’s first-ever space traveler Alper Gezeravci, docked at the International Space Station (ISS) at 05.42am Eastern Standard Time (ET) (1042GMT) on Saturday.

The mission was launched from NASA’S Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 4.49pm ET on Thursday (2149GMT) on a Falcon 9 rocket of private space exploration company Spacex.

Gezeravci and his three crewmates from Spain, Italy, and Sweden will conduct over 30 scientific experiments and demonstrations on the ISS as part of the Ax-3 mission.

The Ax-3 mission is being led by Michael Lopez-alegria, representing the US and Spain, while the crew also includes Walter Villadei from the Italian Air Force as the pilot, and Marcus Wandt of Sweden, representing the European Space Agency.

Gezeravci will conduct 13 scientific researches during his 14day stay on the ISS.

The docking process was planned for January 19 but the liftoff was postponed twice from January 9 to January 17 and January 18. The 70-metre (230foot) Falcon 9 rocket, with a diameter of 3.7 metres and weight of roughly 550 tonnes, has a payload capacity of 22,000kg in low Earth orbit, 8,300kg in geostationary transfer orbit and 4,000kg on Mars.

The 8.1-metre Dragon capsule, which can carry seven people or an equal amount of cargo in its pressurised area with air flow inside, is capable of carrying cargo in its unpressurised rear section.

As the largest space station, the ISS, built by major space agencies - NASA (US), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe) and CSA (Canada) - is serving for scientific researches in in low Earth orbit.