Oleg Kononenko | |
|---|---|
| Олег Кононенко | |
.jpg) Kononenko in 2022 | |
| Born | Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko (1964-06-21)21 June 1964 (age 61) Chardzhou,Turkmen SSR, Soviet Union |
| Status | Active |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Awards | |
| Space career | |
| Roscosmos cosmonaut | |
Time in space | 1,110 days, 14 hours, 57 minutes[1] |
| Selection | MKS Cosmonaut Group (1996) |
TotalEVAs | 7 |
Total EVA time | 44 hours, 30 minutes |
| Missions | |
Mission insignia |            |
Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko (Russian:Олег Дмитриевич Кононенко;Turkmen:Oleg Dmitriýewiç Kononenko; born 21 June 1964) is a Russiancosmonaut.[2] He has flown to theInternational Space Station five times as a flight engineer onExpedition 17 aboardSoyuz TMA-12, as a flight engineer onExpedition 30 and commander ofExpedition 31 aboardSoyuz TMA-03M, as a flight engineer onExpedition 44 andExpedition 45 aboardSoyuz TMA-17M, as a flight engineer onExpedition 57 and commander ofExpedition 58 andExpedition 59 aboardSoyuz MS-11, and as a flight engineer onExpedition 69 andExpedition 70 and commander ofExpedition 71 aboardSoyuz MS-24/Soyuz MS-25.
Kononenko has accumulated 1,111 days in space over the course of five long-duration missions on the ISS. On 4 February 2024, at 07:30:08 UTC, he broke the record for themost time spent in space previously held byGennady Padalka at 878 days.[3][4][5]
Oleg Kononenko was born on 21 June 1964 inChardzhou,Turkmen SSR (nowTürkmenabat,Turkmenistan) to a simple family. His father Dmitry Ivanovich Kononenko worked as a driver in a freight trucking company, and his mother Taisiya Stepanovna Churakova was a communications operator at theTürkmenabat Airport. Kononenko graduated from high school No. 15 of Turkmenabat city, where he received excellent marks in the subject of theTurkmen language.[6]
After school, Oleg Kononenko was not able to enter the Kharkov Aviation Institute the first time. He returned home, worked for a year in the tool shop of theTürkmenabat Airport aviation technical base.[6] The second attempt was successful. Kononenko graduated from theN. E. ZhukovskiyKharkiv Aviation Institute in 1988 as amechanical engineer.[2]
After graduation, Kononenko worked at the Russian Space Agency's Central Specialized Design BureauTsSKB-Progress inKuybishev, starting as an engineer and working his way up to the leading design engineer. His responsibilities included system design, analysis, and development of spacecraft electrical power systems.[2]
On 29 March 1996, Oleg was selected as a cosmonaut candidate by the Interagency Committee, and from June 1996 to March 1998, he underwent cosmonaut training at theGagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, and on 20 March 1998, was awarded the title of test cosmonaut by the Interagency Qualification Committee.[2] In October 1998 he began training as part of the group of cosmonauts selected for theInternational Space Station (ISS) program.[2]
From December 2001 through April 2002, Kononenko trained as a backup flight engineer for theSoyuz TM-34 vehicle for the third ISS visiting crew. From March 2002 through February 2004, he trained as the flight engineer for the Soyuz TMA vehicle and theExpedition 9 andExpedition 11 primary crews. From March 2004 through March 2006, he trained as part of the group of cosmonauts selected for the ISS program. In March 2006, Kononenko began training as a flight engineer for the Soyuz TMA-12 vehicle and the Expedition 17 crew.[2]
Kononenko was a flight engineer on both theExpedition 17 mission to the International Space Station and theSoyuz TMA-12 mission that flew him there. The crew launched on 8 April 2008 and landed on 24 October 2008.[2] Kononenko spent 199 days in space.[7]
Kononenko conducted his first spacewalk on 10 July 2008 when he ventured into space from thePirs docking compartment airlock of the ISS.[8] He and cosmonautSergey Volkov inspected their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft and retrieved a pyro bolt from it. This spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 18 minutes.[9]
On 15 July 2008, Kononenko again went outside fromPirs to conduct his second spacewalk.[10] Kononenko and Volkov installed one experiment and retrieved another. They also continued to outfit the station's exterior, including the installation of a docking target on theZvezda service module. The spacewalk was in RussianOrlan suits and Kononenko wore an Orlan suit with blue stripes. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 54 minutes.[citation needed]
Kononenko returned to Earth with Expedition 17 commanderSergei Volkov andspaceflight participantRichard Garriott (who launched aboardSoyuz TMA-13 to the ISS on 12 October 2008 with theExpedition 18 crew).[11][12] They landed at 11:37 p.mEDT 55 miles north ofArkalyk,Kazakhstan. They were flown to theBaikonur Cosmodrome by helicopter, and then went on toZvezdny Gorodok (Star City),Moscow.[13][14][15]
On 21 December 2011, Kononenko, along withAndré Kuipers andDonald Pettit, launched to the International Space Station to join the crew ofExpedition 30.[16] He, along with his fellow crewmembers, arrived at the space station on December 23.[17] On 12 February 2012, Kononenko and colleague cosmonautAnton Shkaplerov were scheduled to conduct a six-hour spacewalk outside the ISS. They installed shields on the Zvezda Service Module to protect it from micrometeoroid orbital debris and moved the Strela 1 crane from the Pirs docking compartment to the Poisk Mini Research Module (MRM-2). The two cosmonauts also installed struts on a ladder used by spacewalkers on the Pirs Docking Compartment. As another get-ahead task, they also installed an experiment called Vynoslivost on the Poisk Mini Research Module. As part of the Vynoslivost or "Endurance" experiment, two trays of metal samples would be left exposed on the surface of the Poisk Module.[18] The crew returned to Earth on 1 July 2012.[19]
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On 22 July 2015, Kononenko launched to the International Space Station as Soyuz commander, together with NASA astronautKjell Lindgren andKimiya Yui from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) onSoyuz-TMA-17M. They spent 5 months on the International Space Station as members of theExpedition 44 andExpedition 45 crews. The trio returned to Earth in rare night landing on 11 December 2015, when theirSoyuz TMA-17M landed safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan. Kononenko spent 142 days in space on his third mission.
_Oleg_Kononenko.jpg)
Kononenko launched towards the ISS for the fourth time as Soyuz commander ofSoyuz MS-11 on 3 December 2018 as a flight engineer onExpedition 57. He was originally scheduled to be serving as a flight engineer onExpedition 58 and commander onExpedition 59, although due to the launch failure ofSoyuz MS-10 on 11 October 2018, the original Expedition 58 commander,Aleksey Ovchinin was no longer aboard the station for Expedition 58, therefore Kononenko commanded both Expedition 58 and Expedition 59. Expedition 58 started on 20 December 2018 with the departure ofSoyuz MS-09.[20] Kononenko and fellow crew membersAnne McClain andDavid Saint-Jacques returned to Earth on 24 June 2019, after 203 days 15 hours and 16 minutes in space.[21]
Kononenko always warmly recalls his stay in his motherland -Turkmenistan.[22][23] On 31 December 2018 Kononenko showed theflag of Turkmenistan and the book "Turkmenistan is the heart of the Great Silk Road" ofGurbanguly Berdymukhamedov from the ISS and wishes Happy New Year from the orbit of all Turkmenistan citizens.[24] The astronaut also noted that he has special feelings for the country where he was born and grew up, proud and rejoiced at her achievements.[25]
In June 2020, Kononenko announced that he was planned to return to the ISS. In September 2023, he launched aboardSoyuz MS-24. He was assigned for a year mission with his Russian crew memberNikolai Chub that started on September 15, 2023. As the mission lasted 374 days, Kononenko spent a total of 1,111 days in space by the time he returned to Earth onSoyuz MS-25. He broke the world record of 878 days in space held byGennady Padalka on February 4, 2024 at 07:30:08 UTC. He later became the first person to stay 900, 1,000, and 1,100 days in space on 25 February 2024, 4 June 2024, and 12 September 2024 respectively.[3][4][5][26]
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Kononenko studied at a specialized school of volleyball and was a member of the youth team of Turkmenistan.
He is married to Tatyana Mikhailovna Kononenko (née Yurieva). They have a son, Andrey Olegovich Kononenko, and a daughter, Alisa Olegovna Kononenko. Oleg enjoys reading and team sports.
In 2015, he was elected to public office inKorolyov.[27]
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
| Preceded by | ISS Commander (Expedition 31) 27 April to 1 July 2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | ISS Commander (Expedition 58/59) 20 December 2018 to 24 June 2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | ISS Commander (Expedition 70/71) 10 March to 22 September 2024 | Succeeded by |