Russian President Vladimir Putin “awarded the order of merit for the Fatherland”, II degree, to the commander of the cosmonaut detachment Oleg Kononenko, TASS reports.

"For a great contribution to the development of manned cosmonautics, for the courage and high professionalism shown in the research, development and use of outer space, to award the order of merit for the Fatherland, II degree to Oleg Kononenko," the decree reads.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Dmitrievich Kononenko was born on June 21, 1964 in Chardzhou (now Turkmenabat of Lebap velayat), where he graduated from secondary school No. 15. In 1988, O. Kononenko graduated from the national aerospace University named after N. E. Zhukovsky in Kharkiv with a degree in aircraft engines.

After graduation, Kononenko worked at the Central specialized design Bureau (CSKB) in Kuibyshev (Samara). Kononenko started working as an engineer and worked his way up to lead design engineer. He was engaged in designing the electrical systems of spaceships.

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, for the fifth time, he went into outer space to survey the skin of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, the duration of the exit is 7 hours and 45 minutes. The total duration of the five spacewalks was 32 hours and 13 minutes. Oleg Kononenko is currently the record holder for the total duration of stay on the ISS. He spent a total of more than two years in orbit, was awarded The gold star of the Hero of Russia after the first flight, and now works at the cosmonaut training test center. He was awarded the “gold star” medal of the Hero of Russia (2009), “the order of merit for the Fatherland” of the IV degree (2014) and the medal of “merit for space exploration” (2011).

Oleg Kononenko is a recipient of one of the highest awards of independent neutral Turkmenistan – the order of the “President's Star”, which was presented to him in 2009 by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. In 2019, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov awarded Kononenko the title of Hero of Turkmenistan.