Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, record-holder for total time spent in space, has been appointed acting head of the Yuri A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, according to Roscosmos. Previously, the position was held by Maxim Kharlamov, reports TASS.

Kononenko was born on June 21, 1964, in Turkmenabad (formerly Chardzhou, Turkmen SSR). He graduated in 1988 from the Kharkiv Aviation Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky, specializing in aircraft engines. After graduation, he worked at the Central Specialized Design Bureau in Kuibyshev (now RSC “Progress” in Samara), focusing on power supply systems for spacecraft.

He was selected as a cosmonaut candidate in 1996 and qualified as a test cosmonaut in 1998. Since 2016, he served as commander of the cosmonaut detachment, and since July 2021, as deputy head of the training center for cosmonaut preparation.

Kononenko completed five space missions:

• ISS-17 (April–October 2008)

• ISS-30/31 (December 2011 – July 2012)

• ISS-44/45 (July–December 2015)

• ISS-58/59 (December 2018 – June 2019)

• Soyuz MS-24 (September 2023 – September 2024)

During his latest mission, he set a world record for total time in space — 1,110 days, 14 hours, 58 minutes, and 37 seconds. Together with Nikolai Chub, he also set a record for the longest single mission on the ISS — 373 days. Additionally, Kononenko performed seven spacewalks totaling 44 hours 30 minutes.

He has been awarded the titles Hero of the Russian Federation (2009) and Hero of Turkmenistan (2019), is a full cavalier of the Russian Order “For Merit to the Fatherland,” laureate of the Russian Government’s Y.A. Gagarin Prize (2021), recipient of the Turkmen “Star of the President” (2009), the “Altyn Ay” medal (2019), and Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau, Netherlands (2016). Honorary citizen of Gagarin, Korolyov, and Samara Oblast.