Space Camp Turkiye Opens Teacher Training Programme, Hosting First Bulgarian Participants

BTA correspondent Ayshe Sali, Atanas Malakchiev

Bulgarian teachers participate in Space Camp Turkiye in Izmir, March 17, 2026 (BTA Photo/ Ayshe Sali)

Izmir,

18.03.2026 14:19

(BTA)

The International Space Camp in Izmir (Space Camp Turkiye), which works in partnership with the US space agency NASA, has started a teacher training programme and the first two groups of teachers were from Bulgaria. These programmes were launched with a test group in 2025, and from March 14 to 18, 2026, thirty Bulgarian teachers experienced what it was like to fly in space, but as part of the organization's first regular training programme. The idea of these programmes is for the teachers to tell their students about their experiences and thus attract their interest in space and the natural sciences.

Participants experienced what would happen to them if they travelled to Mars or reached the International Space Station. Nearly 300,000 students from different countries, including Bulgaria, have previously visited the Space Camp Turkiye.

"It is very valuable to give children information about Space Camp, but teachers reach hundreds and even thousands of students. They also present them with various trainings related to their profession, which are also related to Space Camp. On the other hand, space technologies encompass sciences such as mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry. The project that we added to our programmes and through which we welcomed teachers here and could tell them about the methodology that they can use in their trainings was very important," said Emre Aday, Marketing and Public Relations Manager at Space Camp Turkiye.

The camp's programme manager for Bulgaria, Blagoy Tsitselkov, said that Space Camp partners with the Center for Creative Training (CCT) in Bulgaria and is its longest-standing partner. "Over time, we have seen how successful it is and how it can change the lives, fates, ideas and views of young people between the ages of 11 and 15. At that moment, a massive construction of science centres began in Bulgaria and a search for ideas on how these centres could not be just renovated classrooms, but places filled with content, and we decided to offer Space Camp something new that has not been done before - to come here with Bulgarian teachers and directors who could pass this experience onto their students," said Tsitselkov.

The teachers' mission ended with the launch of rockets they had made themselves with materials at hand.

/IV/