Turkey asked US to take astronaut in return for Boeing sale

Turkey asked US to take astronaut in return for Boeing sale.Turkey’s aspirations are not limited to its region, or even the globe, according to a recently released document that says the Turkish president sought to cut a deal to put a Turkish astronaut into outer space.President Abdullah Gül asked his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to let a Turkish astronaut participate in a NASA space flight in return for buying Boeing jets, said a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by the New York Times from the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.Commenting on how the meeting went, Jeffrey said in the cable that assisting Turkey’s aviation and aerospace agencies could be mutually beneficial in and of itself and merits further study. “We probably cannot put a Turkish astronaut in orbit, but there are programs we could undertake to strengthen Turkey’s capacity in this area that would meet our own goals for improved aviation safety in the region,” he wrote. “In any case, we must show some response to the minister’s vague requests if we want to maximize chances for the sale.”Hmmmm.....One might think they heard of "NASA's outreach to Muslims"?Read the full story here.