Aeronautics Day was established by the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium on April 9th, 1962 to commemorate Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin's first space travel on April 12th, 1961. In November 1968, the International Aviation Sports Federation resolved to celebrate April 12th as World Aviation and Aeronautics Day. On April 8th, 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proposed by Russia, declaring April 12th as the International Day of Manned Space Flight. This holiday is also known as International Day of Human Space Flight and World Day of Aviation and Cosmonautics in many countries.

Recently, Oleg Kononenko, Turkmenistan descended astronaut, Nationa Hero of Turkmenistan, set a new record for the total duration of stay in space. He has spent more time in space than any other cosmonaut, breaking the record previously held by his compatriot Gennadiy Padalka. Padalka had spent a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, and 48 seconds on five space flights. This is Kononenko's fifth flight to the International Space Station, having first traveled there in 2008. None of the other active Russian cosmonauts have flown more than three times. Kononenko traveled to the ISS on September 15th, 2023, aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft, along with Russian Nikolay Chub and American Loral O'Hara.

compiled by Mekan ROZYYEV,
student of the Institute of International Relations of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.