STAR CITY /Moscow Region/, June 23. /TASS/. TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov has presented cosmonaut Anna Kikina with a TASS special correspondent certificate in the presence of Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Head, cosmonaut squad commander and Hero of Russia Oleg Kononenko, making her the eighth TASS special correspondent and the first female correspondent as part of the TASS on the International Space Station project.
"We have a very symbolic and responsible mission – to serve as the main provider of news for our country’s leading news agency, TASS. I myself took part in this work and greatly enjoyed writing articles. The entire country will rely on your reports," Kononenko said.
Kikina will travel to the ISS together with cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and astronaut Anil Menon on July 14 aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. This will be the second spaceflight of her career.
"Dear Anna Yuryevna! TASS has always been proud to be the only news agency in the world with its own bureau aboard the ISS in outer space," Kondrashov noted. "Whenever possible, we receive messages, photographs, and impressions from the ISS from our special correspondents – real cosmonauts – directly to our news feed. You will be the second female cosmonaut to venture into outer space. We are very interested in your firsthand account after you witness this great miracle of nature. TASS has always had professional correspondents in orbit, but never one quite like this. This will be journalism with a female perspective."
