“Our primary and most important goal for our national space program is the contact of the Republic, in its 100th year, with the moon,” the Turkish leader said. “I hope that this roadmap, which will carry Turkey to the top league in the global space race, will come to life successfully,” he said. Turkey established the Turkish Space Agency, or TUA, in 2018, with the aim of joining the handful of other countries with space programs. But supporters say a space program will provide jobs for researchers and is likely to reduce the brain drain of emigrating scientists. Last month, he and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spoke by telephone and discussed cooperation on space technologies with Turkish companies.

Source: The Hindu February 10, 2021 05:15 UTC