President Serdar Berdimuhamedov congratulated the Hero of Turkmenistan, trainer-astronaut-test engineer, Commander of the Cosmonauts Department of the State Corporation for Space Activities “Roscosmos” Oleg Kononenko with birthday.

Today Oleg Kononenko turned 58 years old.

“Accept my cordial congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of your birthday!

Taking this pleasant opportunity, I from the bottom of my heart wish you good health, long life, happiness, family well–being, as well as great success in space exploration,” reads the congratulatory message of the head of state published in today's issue of the “Neutral Turkmenistan” newspaper.

Oleg Kononenko was born in 1964 in the Turkmen city of Chardchou (now Turkmenabat), where he graduated from secondary school No. 15. In 1988 he graduated from the Kharkov Aviation Institute with a degree in aircraft engines.

In 2008 Kononenko made his first space flight to the International Space Station (ISS). In total, he made four flights to the space station, and also broke the record for the total time spent on the ISS, spending 737 days in space.

And on December 11, 2018, he went out into open space for the fifth time to inspect the skin of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, the duration of the exit was 7 hours and 45 minutes. The total duration of the five spacewalks was 32 hours and 13 minutes.

Hero of Russia (2009) and Turkmenistan (2019) Oleg Kononenko is a holder of one of the highest awards of independent neutral Turkmenistan - the Order of the “Star of the President”.

In April of this year, Oleg Kononenko told that he is getting ready to his fifth flight to the ISS, which is scheduled on March 2023.