Turkey to open 1st-ever space training centre

Ankara, Feb 23 (IANS) Turkey is set to open the country's first-ever space training centre, it was reported.

The Gokmen Space and Aviation Training Center (GUHEM) in the northwestern city of Bursa on will open April 23, the Hurriyet Daily News said in a report on Saturday.

Turkey celebrates April 23 as the National Sovereignty and Children's Day, bestowed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic.

In the first floor, some 154 interactive mechanisms, an innovation centre, a modern flight simulator have been established, along with many other different applications for aeronautics and space training.

The second floor, dubbed as the "Space Floor", will provide information on atmospheric phenomena, the solar system, planets, and galaxies.

Ibrahim Burkay, the head of the Bursa Chamber of Commerce, told state-run Anadolu Agency that Turkey wants to become one of the top 10 economies in the world and those are leading in space and aviation technologies.

He also referred to another Turkish project regarding putting an indigenous satellite into orbit and said that the country needs "indigenous astronauts" as well.