Alper Gezeravci’s first message from space was a patriotic one. “The future is in the skies,” he said from a Falcon 9 rocket on its 14-day mission in January 2024. The line is one of many attributed to Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s founder, and Mr Gezeravci, Turkey’s first astronaut, is the poster boy for the space ambitions of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current leader. The Turkish Space Agency was founded in 2018, and in 2021 the president announced a ten-year plan for space, including home-made satellites and a moon landing. Mr Gezeravci campaigned alongside Mr Erdogan’s AK Party after returning to Earth.

State spending on space research and development has risen from $4.7m in 2013 to a still-tiny $140m in 2025, but it is increasing. In December the government began work on a spaceport in Somalia, a project that has been projected to cost $350m. Space is a matter of national prestige for Mr Erdogan, but it is also an important auxiliary to the booming Turkish defence industry. The government has confirmed that it also wants to use its spaceport as a place to test missiles; from Somalia they can safely be fired east. Last month Mr Erdogan announced that Turkey is developing a missile with a 2,000km range, more than twice that of its current Tayfun.

Turkey’s domestic satellites are already integrated with its drones, which can be controlled anywhere in the world from the Turksat 5B, launched in 2021. Selcuk Bayraktar, chairman of Turkey’s biggest drone manufacturer Baykar (and Mr Erdogan’s son-in-law), founded a sister company, Fergani Space, in 2022 to develop space technology. Last month it launched its FGN-100-D1 positioning and communication satellite, one of a hundred it plans to put in orbit over the next five years to build a global-positioning system that can be used by the armed forces. Space is an arena where Turkey may annoy its Western allies: it has applied to join the International Lunar Research Station, a Chinese-Russian rival to America’s Artemis programme.

Mr Erdogan has poured cash into the defence industry, even considering a tax on credit cards and car and property sales to support the sector. But his budget deficit may put a dampener on his plans; and the defence sector is not immune to the country’s brain drain, with many engineers leaving to work abroad for much better pay. Mr Erdogan may be looking to the stars, but Turkey’s talented youth are more likely to be looking at their pay cheques.