World record
Oleg Kononenko has been making his fifth space flight since September 15, 2023. The commander of the ISS-70/71 expedition launched on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft together with Nikolai Chub and American Loral O'Hara. February 4 (11:30 Moscow time) Kononenko became the new holder of the world record for total stay in orbit. Since 2015, the previous record has been held by another Russian cosmonaut, Gennady Padalka, who spent a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, 48 seconds in space during five missions (from 1998 to 2015).
Currently, the records for the longest duration in space are mainly held by Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. In addition to them, the top 10 record holders include only American astronaut Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the ISS. Her total time in space is 675 days, 3 hours and 48 minutes.
1000 days in orbit
The fifth space mission in his career took Oleg Kononenko to an unprecedented level. The Russian became the first person in the world to stay in low-Earth orbit for a total of 1,000 days. As Kononenko himself notes, this achievement will make a definite contribution to the development of space medicine and expand the understanding of human capabilities. The cosmonaut is also convinced that this milestone will allow him to gain valuable experience necessary to solve specific problems of the functioning of systems of promising manned space stations. At the end of the annual expedition to the ISS on September 23, 2024, the total flight time of the cosmonaut may be 1111 days, if the landing time on September 23 remains at 14:58:16.
The longest flight
Oleg Kononenko's current expedition, which lasts 375 days, is also unique in that it is the longest in the framework of the International Space Station program. The previous record belonged to Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio, who, instead of a six-month expedition, were forced to spend 371 days on the ISS due to damage to the outer skin of the instrument assembly compartment of the Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft.
Organ printing in space
In March of this year, for the first time in the world, an astronaut conducted an experiment on board the ISS "Magnetic Biofabrication" to modify a tissue-engineered structure from a flat to a tubular shape to obtain analogues of tubular organs using 4D bioprinting technology. The experiment was carried out using a special magnetic bioprinter "Organ.Auth", as well as metal-polymer plates, the surface of which contained a cellular monolayer.
During the experiment, these plates formed tubular structures under the influence of a magnetic field and temperature. The results of the study, which will bring humanity one step closer to creating artificial tissues in a space laboratory, will be analyzed by scientists on Earth.
A unique experiment
In December 2023, Oleg Kononenko performed a scientific experiment on board the ISS to study the embryonic development of Japanese quail chicks. The experiment was conducted for 15 days, was characterized by increased complexity and required full dedication from the cosmonaut. Tiny quail eggs had to be examined for defects in the shell, placed in special sections of the incubator, and at the right time, the eggs were turned 180 degrees, as birds do in their natural environment. Each session of the experiment was many hours long, and Kononenko carried out all actions in protective gloves, which further complicated the work.
The biomaterial recorded as part of the experiment will be subjected to a thorough analysis on Earth. Its results will allow scientists to come to a conclusion about what is more important for the successful development of embryos in space — artificial gravity or protection from radiation.
VKD and scientific experiments
During his career, Oleg Kononenko made seven spacewalks with a total duration of 44 hours and 30 minutes. During the current space expedition, the Russian performed extravehicular activity (EVA) twice. So, the TASS special correspondent and his colleague cosmonaut Nikolai Chub went into outer space on the night of October 26, 2023 and worked outside the station for over seven hours. The cosmonauts completed their second extravehicular activity on April 25: then Kononenko and Chub were two hours ahead of schedule, having spent only 4 hours and 36 minutes outside the ISS.
During the fifth mission, the cosmonaut completed a total of 457 scientific sessions on 39 scientific experiments. Among them are the experiments "Matryoshka-R", "Plasma Crystal", "Quail", "Magnetic biofabrication" and others.
Manual docking
One of the significant episodes occurred during the arrival of the Progress MS-25 cargo transport ship to the ISS on December 3. The cosmonaut took control of the ship using the teleoperator control mode (TORU) and safely docked the Progress to the Poisk module.
Into space with a book
The cosmonaut names Anton Chekhov and Alexander Pushkin among his favorite Russian writers. On the fifth expedition Oleg Kononenko took with him a book with Pushkin's novel "The Captain's Daughter". The cosmonaut recalled that in 2024 a significant cultural event is celebrated — the 225th anniversary of the birth of the great writer and poet. According to the cosmonaut, in his youth he loved to read and reread this work, which occupies a special place in Russian literature.
Great idols
One of Oleg Kononenko's main idols is the first cosmonaut of the Earth Yuri Gagarin and the famous designer Sergei Korolev. It was they who formed the young Kononenko's desire to devote his life to cosmonautics. "As a boy, I dreamed of designing a new spaceship like Korolev and testing it myself by flying into space like Gagarin," says the cosmonaut.
At the beginning of his career, Kononenko managed to work for several years as a design engineer for automatic spacecraft, after which he finally and irrevocably decided on his life's work.
Reports from space
Oleg Kononenko is the fourth TASS special correspondent on the International Space Station. The agency's office was opened in orbit in November 2021. TASS on the ISS is a unique educational project that is being implemented jointly with the Roscosmos State Corporation. It is aimed at popularizing Russia's activities in space.
During the year-long expedition, Kononenko transmitted over 200 text, photo and video materials from orbit and became the most effective space special correspondent of TASS. Many people know about the cosmonaut's serious passion for photography. During each expedition, Kononenko tries to capture the greatness and beauty of the Earth from space. The cosmonaut shared with the readers of the agency a whole series of magnificent images, including Russian and foreign cities, airports, power plants, mountains, volcanoes and much more. Together with Oleg Kononenko, readers watched the consequences of the flood in the Orenburg region, admired the mesmerizing Moon and admired the power of Russia's rivers.
Before Kononenko, Alexander Misurkin, Oleg Artemyev and Dmitry Petelin worked in the orbital office of the country's main news agency.
Love of chocolate
Nothing human is alien to an astronaut. Oleg Kononenko has a small weakness — he loves sweets very much. Especially for him, each Progress cargo ship delivers chocolates into orbit.
Ekaterina Adamova
