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TASS reporter onboard ISS Oleg Kononenko assumes command of space station

During the ceremony, the Danish astronaut handed over to the Russian colleague the symbolic key to the station and the crew rang the ship’s bell

MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko who is also a TASS special reporter in space, has taken over the key to the International Space Station (ISS) from ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark to assume the command of the ISS, Roscosmos said.

"Today, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononeko, the holder of the world record in term of the overall duration of spaceflights, took the command of the International Space Station from ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen. During the ceremony, the Danish astronaut handed over to the Russian colleague the symbolic key to the station and the crew rang the ship’s bell," it said.

Crew-7 of Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are scheduled to leave the ISS onboard the Crew Dragon spaceship tomorrow.

Oleg Kononenko, his colleagues Nikolay Chub and Alexanderr Grebenkin, NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps will stay aboard the ISS.

Kononenko is on his fifth space mission. On June 5, he will become the first-ever human to spend an aggregate of 1,000 days in outer space. Also in June, he will mark his 60th birthday in space. After his year-long mission is over, his total flying experience will amount to 1,110 days.

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