Hero of Turkmenistan, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko continues to break the world record for the longest stay in space.

He is currently leading a mission to the International Space Station, where he arrived on September 15, 2023 on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft together with Russian Nikolai Chub and American Loral O'Hara. By February 5 of this year, he had been in outer space for 879 days, breaking the record of another Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who spent a total of 878 days and 11 hours in space.

It is expected that by June 5, O. Kononenko will become the first person to stay in space for 1000 days, reports dw.com.

“I fly into space to do what I love, not to set records. Astronaut is a profession that I have dreamed of, been interested in and aspired to since childhood. This interest, the opportunity to fly into space, live and work in orbit motivates me to continue flying,” the cosmonaut commented on his record.

Oleg Kononenko, commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps, is currently making his fifth space flight.

He was born on June 21, 1964 in Turkmenabat (formerly Chardzhou). Oleg grew up in a simple family: his father Dmitry Ivanovich was a driver in a cargo transport company, his mother, Taisiya Stepanovna, was a telecom operator at the airport.

As reported in the publication “Turkmenistan: The Golden Age”, friendship with neighboring children helped Oleg master the Turkmen language. His passion for sports, namely volleyball, led him to play for the youth team of Turkmenistan.

Having failed to enter the aviation institute the first time, he sat down to study textbooks while working at the local airport. The second attempt was successful, and he not only graduated from an aviation university with excellence, but also received a personal invitation to work at a scientific enterprise in Samara, which allowed him to become one of the leading designers of spacecraft.

As before, Oleg continued to play sports and maintained good physical shape. Probably, these personal qualities and his passionate desire to achieve the goal he set in childhood led to the fact that in 1996 he successfully passed a medical examination and was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps.

The further career path of cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko also lay through trials and incredible difficulties, but the personality traits inherent in childhood always helped him to successfully overcome them. His wife Tatyana Mikhailovna, son Andrei and daughter Alisa are always next to him.

The Hero of Russia and Turkmenistan was congratulated on the record by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

We wish Oleg Kononeko health, new records and a soft landing on Earth this September!

Source of information: turkmenportal.com