“Roskosmos” and the Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yu.A. Gagarin announced the start of an open recruitment to the cosmonaut corps. Any Russian under the age of 35 can participate in the competition if all the requirements are met, reports “MIR 24” with reference to the state corporation's website.

This is the fourth open recruitment for the Russian cosmonaut corps. In 2012 and 2018, eight candidates each passed the tests; in 2021, four people passed the tests. Now the detachment consists of 26 cosmonauts.

The cosmonaut corps is expanding to ensure the fulfillment of the tasks of the Russian Federal Space Program. Applicants must collect packages of personal and medical documents and present them to the competition committee before October 30 of the current year. Candidates who have passed the external screening will be invited to face-to-face testing for compliance with the requirements for professional suitability.

The source with reference to RIA “Novosti”, cites the words of the commander of the cosmonaut detachment Oleg Kononenko: “the number of cosmonauts should increase by about six people. Moreover, it is preferable that half of them were women”.

Let us remind that the commander of the cosmonaut detachment, Hero of the Russian Federation Oleg Kononenko, is a native of Turkmenistan. He was awarded the title of Hero of Turkmenistan and the gold medal Altyn Aý, was awarded the “Order of the President” for services to the Turkmen state.

Kononenko spent 736 days in orbit and made five spacewalks. At present time, the astronaut is preparing to break the record for the duration of stay in space. In October 2023, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, as well as NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, will travel on the “Soyuz MS-24” spacecraft to the International Space Station and spend almost a year on it. Thus, Oleg Kononenko can become the first person who has been in space for a total of more than 1000 days.