ISS, September 25. /TASS/. TASS special correspondent, Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin has handed over his duties as chief of the news agency's office on the International Space Station (ISS) to Oleg Kononenko, the deputy head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Center and commander of the cosmonaut squad.

"My space expedition turned out to be very eventful, with quite a few interesting facts and developments to report. Now there are two TASS special correspondents on board. Time is ripe for me to hand over my duties of the TASS bureau’s chief to the deputy head of the Cosmonaut Training Center, commander of the cosmonaut squad Oleg Kononenko," Petelin said.

Kononenko promised to report breaking news to keep the audience and readership well up on what was new on board. "Reliability and speed are the two qualities essential to doing a reporter’s job right. During my expedition, I will do my utmost to narrate the details and results of the most interesting experiments and events on board. The TASS readership will be the first to know. The news agency's space mascot Inotasia, who has traveled to the ISS with me, will be my source of inspiration," he said.

On November 17, 2021, TASS and Roscosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, according to which the agency's office was opened on the ISS. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin became the first special correspondent for TASS. His flight lasted 12 days. Oleg Artemyev took over as the agency's second special correspondent. The current contributors to the TASS news feed from the orbital outpost are Dmitry Petelin and Oleg Kononenko, deputy chief of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut squad.