BAIKONUR, September 14 Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko told reporters that during his annual flight to the International Space Station will continue to perform part of the tasks as the commander of the detachment, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko told reporters on Thursday.
“On board, I will not be in the detachment (dealing with issues of) administration. Everything I need will be provided, there is a telephone, there is mail, I can receive various documents, put forward a resolution and everything else. The issue has been resolved in advance,” Kononenko said on pre-flight press conference.
He clarified that he had already agreed with the Mission Control Center on how these procedures would be carried out.
In addition, according to Kononenko, in the cosmonaut corps he has two official deputies — cosmonauts Andrei Babkin and Oleg Novitsky.
“They have strictly divided responsibilities, each works in their own direction, so they will perform the duties of a detachment commander,” he added.
The launch of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket with the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft is scheduled for Friday, September 15. Its crew included Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, as well as NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara. Kononenko and Chub will spend a year on the ISS, O'Hara — six months. About 60 scientific experiments are planned for Russians, including seven new ones, and up to four spacewalks.