Türkiye’s second astronaut Tuva Cihangir Atasever attended the award ceremony of the Youth Participation Project Workshop Idea Competition organized by Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality with the slogan “Young People, Shape the Future of the City”. The program, which took place at Şehit Erol Olçok Anatolian High School, was attended by Provincial Director of National Education Coşkun Bakırtaş, Metropolitan Municipality Strategy Development Department Head Veysel Çıplak, School Principal Harun Doğan, municipal bureaucrats and many students.
He Shared His Space Travel Experiences
Speaking at the award ceremony, Tuva Cihangir Atasever shared his experiences on space travel with the youth. Atasever, who took part in Türkiye's second manned space mission in June 2024, shared many important memories with the youth, from the training he received before the mission to the scientific experiments conducted in microgravity.
While sharing his experiences at the space station, Atasever said, “Seeing the world from space is an indescribable feeling,” and stated that these experiences are inspiring for young people. The young astronaut, who explained that they conducted 3 scientific experiments such as spacewalking, 13D tissue production, and life in a zero-gravity environment, said, “We received training in the same module as we were preparing for the mission. We successfully passed all the tests and proudly wore our emblem.”
Call for Science Center and Competition for Young People
In his speech, Atasever emphasized the importance of planned and integrated work for Türkiye to be more ambitious in the field of space, and invited the youth of Sakarya to participate in the Science Center to be established by the Metropolitan Municipality and the 'ethical hacker' and 'game development' competitions.
“Projects Will Not Just Remain in Files”
Speaking at the program, Metropolitan Municipality Strategy Development Department Head Veysel Çıplak stated that they will continue to support the ideas of young people. Çıplak said, “We collected ideas from different areas such as food, environment, architecture, transportation, youth and digitalization. The projects that passed the jury evaluation were submitted to the public vote. The project that receives the most votes will be developed and implemented in the Digital Youth Center.”
Winner of the Competition: Gamze Seçkin
The winner of the idea competition was Gamze Seçkin, a student at Cevat Ayhan Science High School, with her project titled “Early Diagnosis of Corn Leaf Diseases with Artificial Intelligence Models” in the “Digitalization” category. The students who won the competition were presented their awards by Astronot Atasever and protocol members.
