Deniz Burnham, a NASA astronaut born at İncirlik Air Base in Adana, Türkiye, to a Turkish mother and an American military father, has been assigned to her first mission to the International Space Station. NASA said she will serve as an Expedition 76 flight engineer, launching aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-30 spacecraft with cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov in March 2027 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and will spend about seven months aboard the orbiting laboratory.
“I will wave from space”

In a video message to Türkiye, Burnham described the influence of her Turkish grandparents: “My grandmother Aynur is from Eceabat. My grandfather Kadir is from Afyon. My grandmother raised us on wonderful Turkish food. My grandfather’s curiosity about space influenced our whole family. I remember him building his own telescopes,” she said, according to CNN Türk. “I will wave from space to my grandmother and grandfather, to my fellow people of Adana and to the whole world.”
Burnham grew up in a military family and moved frequently. Selected by NASA in 2021, she graduated with the agency’s 23rd astronaut class in 2024. She holds a chemical engineering degree from the University of California, San Diego, and a master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California, and has served as an engineering duty officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.