OREANDA-NEWS  Oleg Kononenko, a Roscosmos cosmonaut working on the International Space Station (ISS), was the first in the world to gain 1,000 days in total duration of space flights.

Kononenko reached this mark on Wednesday at 00:00:20 Moscow time.

On February 4, Kononenko set a world record for the total duration of space flights, surpassing the achievement of compatriot Gennady Padalka, who scored a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, 48 seconds during five space flights.

Kononenko, who is the commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut detachment, is conducting his fifth space flight. At the end of the current expedition (according to the plan - September 23, 2024), his total flight time will be 1,110 days.

Oleg Kononenko was born on June 21, 1964 in Chardzhou, Turkmen SSR. In 1988 he graduated from the Kharkov Aviation Institute named after Zhukovsky graduated in the specialty "Aircraft engines" with the qualification "mechanical engineer". From 1996 to 1998, he underwent general space training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. In March 1998, he was awarded the qualification of "test cosmonaut". Kononenko went on his first space flight on April 8, 2008 as part of the 17th ISS main expedition, returning to Earth on October 24, 2008.