Turkey, despite not having any operational launch vehicles, actually has a decent amount of satellites. Here's a poster from my room showing all of them (The ones past Grizu-263A haven't launched yet):

Our first satellite was Türksat 1A, launched in 1994 on an Ariane 4, which promptly crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 12 minutes into launch.

Our first successful satellite was Türksat 1B, launched the same year, once again abord an Ariane 4. Ever since then we have launched several more satellites (most being Türksat comms satellites) using several different LVs: Ariane 4 and 5, Vega, Proton and recently, the Falcon 9

Alright, all these satellites are cool and all but what about launch vehicles? Won't Turkey have independent access to space? Well, I present to you the Space Launch System (yes, really):

First of all, I would like to clear something up about the name. Although Space Launch System is the official English name for this proposal, a better translation would be Satellite Launch System (Uydu Fırlatma Sistemi being the original Turkish name)

Uydu Fırlatma Sistemi (UFS) is meant to launch satellites to orbits between 500-700 km. The project was contracted to Roketsan (who normally makes missiles for the military) back in July 2013 and is still in the "pre-conceptual design phase".

And in 2018, the Turkish Space Agency (Türkiye Uzay Ajansı, TUA for short) was established. TUA works closely with the space branch of TÜBİTAK, "The Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkey" (Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu).

And finally, manned spaceflight! Although we still lack independent access to space, the first Turkish astronaut, Alper Gezeravcı ( @TURKastro ), is set to launch on Axiom Mission 3 in 2024!

End of thread. If I messed up in some way or if you have any questions, let me know!

@burakalpkaya34 Are they still working on that moon impactor probe?

@Idiocy_inc Well, the agency's official site doesn't have info on it. Also, in 2021 our president said that our goal was to land on the Moon in 2023 but safe to say that's not happening

@burakalpkaya34 cool stuff!

@burakalpkaya34 @_SLT923_ @DashZick I never knew you guys were so cool