NASA astronaut Deniz Burnham, who was born in Adana, appears in a video clip shared by the U.S. Consulate in Adana.
NASA astronaut Deniz Burnham, born in the southern province of Adana, will embark on a seven-month mission to the International Space Station in March 2027 for Moon, Mars and Earth research.
An Expedition 76 flight engineer, she launches aboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-30 from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome with cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov.
In a video from the U.S. Consulate in Adana, she promised to wave to her hometown, noting her birth at İncirlik Air Base and that her grandparents still live in Türkiye.
“When I go into space, I will wave to my grandmother, my grandfather, my fellow Adana residents and the entire world,” she said.
With grandparents from Çanakkale’s Eceabat district and western Afyonkarahisar province, she grew up eating Turkish food and credited her grandfather’s homemade telescopes for her interest in space.
Managing oil drilling in Alaska, Canada, Ohio and Texas for over 10 years, she entered NASA in 2021, training from January 2022 to graduate in the 23rd astronaut class in 2024.
She holds a chemical engineering degree from the University of California, San Diego and a mechanical engineering master’s from the University of Southern California.
A Navy Reserve engineering duty officer, she holds pilot qualifications for fixed-wing aircraft, seaplanes, helicopters and instrument flying alongside Ames Research Center experience.
Burnham welcomed Türkiye signing the Artemis Accords — promoting peaceful, transparent space exploration — on Aug. 31 as the 71st member, praising the planned AYAP-1 lunar mission, Teknofest and the International Astronautical Congress.
“It is an honor for NASA to welcome Türkiye into the Artemis Accords community,” she said.
