Oleg Kononenko
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko (; ; born 21 June 1964) is a Russian
cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...
. He has flown to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
five times as a flight engineer for Expedition 17 aboard Soyuz TMA-12, as a flight engineer on Expedition 30 and commander of Expedition 31 aboard
Soyuz TMA-03M Soyuz TMA-03M was a spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). It launched on 21 December 2011 from Site One at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, carrying three members of Expedition 30 to the ISS. TMA-03M was the 112th flight of ...
, as a flight engineer on Expedition 44 and Expedition 45 aboard Soyuz TMA-17M, as a flight engineer on Expedition 57 and commander of Expedition 58 and Expedition 59 aboard Soyuz MS-11, and as a flight engineer on Expedition 69 and Expedition 70 and commander of Expedition 71 aboard Soyuz 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 the most time spent in space previously held by
Gennady Padalka Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (; born 21 June 1958 in Krasnodar, Soviet Union) is a Russian Air Force officer and Roscosmos cosmonaut. Padalka is the only person to have served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS) four times. He previ ...
at 878 days.


Early life and career

Oleg Kononenko was born on 21 June 1964 in Chardzhou,
Turkmen SSR The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Turkmenistan, the Turkmen SSR, TuSSR, Turkmenistan, or Turkmenia, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union located in Soviet Central Asia, ...
(now
Türkmenabat Türkmenabat (), formerly Amul, Cärjew/Chardzhou (until 1924 and from 1940-1999), and Novy Chardzhuy (from 1927-1940), is the second-largest city in Turkmenistan and the administrative centre of Lebap Province. , it had a population of approxima ...
,
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...
) 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 the Türkmenabat Airport. Kononenko graduated from high school No. 15 of Turkmenabat city, where he received excellent marks in the subject of the
Turkmen language Turkmen (, , , or , , , ) is a Turkic language of the Oghuz branch spoken by the Turkmens of Central Asia. It has an estimated 4.7 million native speakers in Turkmenistan (where it is the official language), and a further 359,000 speakers i ...
.


Education

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 the Türkmenabat Airport aviation technical base. The second attempt was successful. Kononenko graduated from the N. E. Zhukovskiy Kharkiv Aviation Institute in 1988 as a
mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...
.


Experience

After graduation, Kononenko worked at the Russian Space Agency's Central Specialized Design Bureau TsSKB-Progress in Kuybishev, 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.


Cosmonaut career

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 the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, and on 20 March 1998, was awarded the title of test cosmonaut by the Interagency Qualification Committee. In October 1998 he began training as part of the group of cosmonauts selected for the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
(ISS) program. From December 2001 through April 2002, Kononenko trained as a backup flight engineer for the Soyuz 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 the Expedition 9 and Expedition 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.


Expedition 17

Kononenko was a flight engineer on both the Expedition 17 mission to the International Space Station and the Soyuz TMA-12 mission that flew him there. The crew launched on 8 April 2008 and landed on 24 October 2008. Kononenko spent 199 days in space. Kononenko conducted his first spacewalk on 10 July 2008 when he ventured into space from the ''Pirs'' docking compartment airlock of the ISS. He and cosmonaut Sergey Volkov inspected their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft and retrieved a pyro bolt from it. This spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 18 minutes. On 15 July 2008, Kononenko again went outside from ''Pirs'' to conduct his second spacewalk. 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 the ''Zvezda'' service module. The spacewalk was in Russian Orlan suits and Kononenko wore an Orlan suit with blue stripes. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 54 minutes. Kononenko returned to Earth with Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov and
spaceflight participant Spaceflight participant () is the term used by NASA, Roscosmos, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for people who travel into space, but are not professional astronauts. While the term gained new prominence with the rise of space touris ...
Richard Garriott (who launched aboard
Soyuz TMA-13 Soyuz TMA-13 (, ''Union TMA-13'') was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft was launched by a Soyuz-FG rocket at 07:01 GMT on 12 October 2008. It undocked at 02:55 GMT on 8 April 2009, performed a deorbit burn ...
to the ISS on 12 October 2008 with the Expedition 18 crew). They landed at 11:37 p.m EDT 55 miles north of Arkalyk,
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
. They were flown to the
Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...
by helicopter, and then went on to Zvezdny Gorodok (Star City),
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
.


Expedition 30/31

On 21 December 2011, Kononenko, along with André Kuipers and Donald Pettit, launched to the International Space Station to join the crew of Expedition 30. He, along with his fellow crewmembers, arrived at the space station on December 23. On 12 February 2012, Kononenko and colleague cosmonaut Anton 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. The crew returned to Earth on 1 July 2012.


Expedition 44/45

On 22 July 2015, Kononenko launched to the International Space Station as Soyuz commander, together with NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Soyuz-TMA-17M. They spent 5 months on the International Space Station as members of the Expedition 44 and Expedition 45 crews. The trio returned to Earth in rare night landing on 11 December 2015, when their Soyuz TMA-17M landed safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan. Kononenko spent 142 days in space on his third mission.


Expedition 57/58/59

Kononenko launched towards the ISS for the fourth time as Soyuz commander of Soyuz MS-11 on 3 December 2018 as a flight engineer on Expedition 57. He was originally scheduled to be serving as a flight engineer on Expedition 58 and commander on Expedition 59, although due to the launch failure of Soyuz 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 of Soyuz MS-09. Kononenko and fellow crew members Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques returned to Earth on 24 June 2019, after 203 days 15 hours and 16 minutes in space. Kononenko always warmly recalls his stay in his motherland -
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...
. On 31 December 2018 Kononenko showed the
flag of Turkmenistan The national flag of Turkmenistan () features a white crescent and five stars representing the five regions of the country and the Five Pillars of Islam. Placed upon a green field is a symbolic representation of the country's famous carpet indus ...
and the book "Turkmenistan is the heart of the Great Silk Road" of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov from the ISS and wishes Happy New Year from the orbit of all Turkmenistan citizens. 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.


Expedition 69/70/71

In June 2020, Kononenko announced that he was planned to return to the ISS. In September 2023, he launched aboard Soyuz MS-24. He was assigned for a year mission with his Russian crew member Nikolai 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 on Soyuz MS-25. He broke the world record of 878 days in space held by
Gennady Padalka Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (; born 21 June 1958 in Krasnodar, Soviet Union) is a Russian Air Force officer and Roscosmos cosmonaut. Padalka is the only person to have served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS) four times. He previ ...
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.


Personal life

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 in Korolyov.


Honors and awards

*
Hero of the Russian Federation Hero of the Russian Federation ( rus, Герой Российской Федерации, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲijskəj fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨɪ), also unofficially called Hero of Russia ( rus, Герой России, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲiɪ), is ...
(5 February 2009) - for courage and heroism during space flight * Hero of Turkmenistan (2019) *
Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established by Decree of the President of Russia, presidential decree №1099 of September ...
(12 April 2011) - for great achievements in the field of research, development and utilization of outer space, many years of diligent work, public activities * Star of President Order (Turkmenistan, 16 February 2009) - In recognition of service to the government and people of Turkmenistan, for personal courage, professionalism and achievement in the performance of an international program of peaceful space exploration. *
Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation The Honorary Title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation () is a state award of the Russian Federation presented to all cosmonauts who fly for the Russian Federal Space Agency. Usually accompanying the distinction is the title of Hero of th ...
(2009) *Gagarin Medal * Honorary Citizen of Gagarin,
Smolensk Oblast Smolensk Oblast (), informally also called Smolenshchina (), is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative centre is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Smolensk. As of the 2021 Russ ...
(24 February 2011) - years of excellence, a deep sense of personal responsibility, the ability to navigate the complex situation and make the right decisions for his devotion to his country and the continuation of the stellar feats of Yuri Gagarin * NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (US, 2008) *
NASA Space Flight Medal The NASA Space Flight Medal is a decoration of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. According to its statutes, it is awarded "for significant achievement or service during individual participation as a civilian or military astronau ...
(USA, 2008)


References


External links


Spacefacts biography of Oleg Kononenko
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kononenko, Oleg 1964 births Living people People from Türkmenabat Russian cosmonauts RKA civilian cosmonauts National Aerospace University – Kharkiv Aviation Institute alumni Russian mechanical engineers Commanders of the International Space Station Heroes of the Russian Federation Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal Spacewalkers