Gezeravcı's mission

Turkey's first astronaut returned home to a hero's welcome Monday, portrayed as a symbol of the country's advances in technology and aerospace.

Alper Gezeravci was greeted by bouquet-laden children at Ankara's Esenboga Airport as he returned from a private three-week mission to the International Space Station. In return, he handed out Turkish flags he had carried with him into space.

Türkiye's first space traveler Alper Gezeravcı has executed the oxygen saturation experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), marking the sixth in a series of 13 experiments planned for his mission.