Oleg Kononenko

Oleg Kononenko
RKA Cosmonaut
Native name
 Олег Дмитриевич Кононенко
Nationality Russian
Status Active
Born Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko
(1964-06-21) June 21, 1964
Chardzhou, Turkmen SSR
Other occupation
 Engineer
Rank Civilian
Time in space
 533 days
Selection 1996 RKA Group
Total EVAs
 2
Total EVA time
 12 hours 12 minutes
Missions Soyuz TMA-12 (Expedition 17), Soyuz TMA-03M (Expedition 30/31), Soyuz TMA-17M (Expedition 44/45)
Mission insignia
Awards

Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko (Russian: Олег Дмитриевич Кононенко) is a Russian cosmonaut.[1] He has flown to the International Space Station three times, as a flight engineer for Expedition 17 aboard Soyuz TMA-12, as a flight engineer on Expedition 30 and commander of Expedition 31 aboard Soyuz TMA-03M, and as a flight engineer on Expedition 44 aboard Soyuz TMA-17M. Kononenko has accumulated over 533 days in orbit during three long duration flights to ISS.

Personal

Kononenko was born June 21, 1964, in Chardzhou, Turkmen SSR. He is married to Tatiana Mikhailovna Kononenko (née Yurieva). They have a son, Andrey Olegovich Kononenko, and a daughter, Alisa Olegovna Kononenko. Kononenko enjoys reading, and team sports.

Education

Kononenko graduated from the N. E. Zhukovskiy Kharkiv Aviation Institute in 1988 as a mechanical engineer.[1]

Awards

Kononenko was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal and the Yu. A. Gagarin Medal of the Cosmonautics Federation, Russia. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov awarded the cosmonaut with the Star of President Order.[2]

Experience

After graduation, Kononenko worked at the Russian Space Agency’s Central Specialized Design Bureau TsSKB-Progress in Kuybishev, starting as an engineer and working his way up to leading design engineer. His responsibilities included system design, analysis, and development of spacecraft electrical power systems.[1]

Cosmonaut career

Oleg Kononenko floats through the Destiny Laboratory of the Space Station.

On March 29, 1996, Oleg was selected as a cosmonaut candidate by the Interagency Committee, and from June 1996 to March 1998, he underwent cosmonaut training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and on March 20, 1998, was awarded the title of test cosmonaut by the Interagency Qualification Committee.[1] In October 1998 he began training as part of the group of cosmonauts selected for the International Space Station (ISS) Program.[1]

From December, 2001, through April 2002, Kononenko trained as a backup flight engineer for the Soyuz TM-34 vehicle for the third ISS visiting crew. From March 2002, through February 2004, he trained as the flight engineer for the Soyuz TMA vehicle and the Expedition 9 and Expedition 11 primary crews. From March 2004 through March 2006, he trained as part of the group of cosmonauts selected for the ISS Program. In March 2006, Kononenko began training as a flight engineer for the Soyuz TMA-12 vehicle and the Expedition 17 crew.[1]

Expedition 30 flight engineer Oleg Kononenko performs a SPRUT-2 experiment run in the Zvezda Service Module of the Space Station.

Expedition 17

Kononenko was a Flight Engineer on both the Expedition 17 mission to the International Space Station, and the Soyuz TMA-12 mission that flew him there. The crew launched on April 8, 2008, and landed on October 24, 2008.[1] Kononenko spent 199 days in space.[3]

Kononenko returned to Earth with Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov, and spaceflight participant Richard Garriott (who launched aboard Soyuz TMA-13 to the ISS on October 12, 2008 with the Expedition 18 crew).[4][5] They landed at 11:37 p.m EDT 55 miles north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. They were flown to the Baikonur Cosmodrome by helicopter, and then went on to Zvezdny Gorodok (Star City), Moscow.[6][7][8]

Expedition 30/31

On December 21, 2011, Kononenko, along with André Kuipers and Donald Pettit, launched to the International Space Station to join the crew of Expedition 30.[9] He, along with his fellow crewmembers, arrived at the space station on December 23.[10] They returned to Earth on July 1, 2012.[11]

Spacewalks

Spacewalker Oleg Kononenko seen outside the Space Station on 12 February 2012.

Kononenko conducted his first spacewalk on July 10, 2008 when he ventured into space from the Pirs docking compartment airlock of the ISS.[12] He and cosmonaut Volkov inspected their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft and retrieved a pyro bolt from it. This spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 18 minutes.

On July 15, 2008 Kononenko again went outside from Pirs to conduct his second spacewalk.[13] Kononenko and Volkov installed one experiment and retrieved another. They also continued to outfit the station's exterior, including the installation of a docking target on the Zvezda service module. The spacewalk was in Russian Orlan suits and Kononenko wore an Orlan suit with blue stripes. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 54 minutes.

On February 12, 2012, Kononenko and colleague cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov are scheduled to conduct a six-hour spacewalk outside the ISS. They will install shields on the Zvezda Service Module to protect it from micrometeoroid orbital debris and move the Strela 1 crane from the Pirs docking compartment to the Poisk Mini Research Module (MRM-2). If time permits, the two cosmonauts will also install struts on a ladder used by spacewalkers on the Pirs Docking Compartment. As another get-ahead task, they may install an experiment called Vynoslivost on the Poisk Mini Research Module. As part of the Vynoslivost or "Endurance" experiment, two trays of metal samples would be left exposed on the surface of the Poisk Module.[14]

Future expedition

Kononenko is currently assigned as 3rd Flight Engineer on Expedition 44/45, scheduled for launch on 22 July 2015.

Honours and awards

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NASA (2008). "Oleg Dmitrievich Kononenko". NASA. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  2. ↑ http://www.turkmenistaninfo.ru/?page_id=6&type=article&elem_id=page_6/magazine_79/681&lang_id=en
  3. ↑ NASA (2008). "Expedition 17". NASA. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  4. ↑ Mark Carreau (2008). "$30 million buys Austin resident a ride on Soyuz mission". The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  5. ↑ Tariq Malik. "Former Astronaut's Son Signs on as Next Space Tourist". SPACE.com. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  6. ↑ BBC (October 24, 2008). "Soyuz space capsule lands safely". BBC News. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  7. ↑ ITAR (2008). "Cosmonauts examined with special system". ITAR-TASS News Agency. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  8. ↑ Peter Leonard for the Associated Press (2008). "US Game Designer Blasts Into Space With DNA Cargo". ABC News. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Russian Soyuz rocket blasts off". ITN. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  10. ↑ Klotz, Irene (23 December 2011). "New crew arrives at International Space Station". Reuters. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  11. ↑ Bora, Kukil (2 July 2012). "Three Expedition 31 Crew Members From International Space Station Land In Kazakhstan". International Business Times. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  12. ↑ NASA (July 10, 2008). "Russian Spacewalkers Retrieve Soyuz Pyro Bolt". Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  13. ↑ NASA (July 15, 2008). "Russian Spacewalkers Outfit Station's Exterior". Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Soyuz TMA-03M". Russianspaceweb.com. 23 December 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011.

External links

Preceded by
Daniel Burbank		 ISS Expedition Commander
1 July to 16 September 2012 		Succeeded by
Gennady Padalka
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