On March 10, Oleg Kononenko, a world record holder for the total duration of space flights, became the new commander of the International Space Station, replacing ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen in this position.
The Danish astronaut handed over a symbolic key to the station to the Russian, after which the crew members traditionally marked the moment with a ring of the ship’s bell.
Oleg Kononenko will lead the ISS until the end of September 2024. During this time, he will increase the world record for time spent in space to 1,110 days.
It is worth noting that today, March 11, the Crew Dragon spacecraft with the Crew-7 mission – NASA astronaut Jasmin Mogbeli, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov – is expected to leave the International Space Station and return to Earth.
Photo: Dmitry Korotayev/Izvestia