TASS correspondent Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin
(TASS correspondent on the International Space Station, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin)

TASS news agency sets up office aboard International Space Station

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Major Russian news agency TASS will be the first media outlet in the world to open a permanent bureau on the International Space Station (ISS).

“The first correspondent in space will be Hero of Russia, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin,” TASS Director General Sergei Mikhailov said after signing the document with Russian space corporation Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin on Wednesday (Nov. 16).

“Previously, we were limited to our planet. TASS is present in all regions of Russia and in more than 60 countries. In the coming years their numbers will increase. We’ve eyed the idea that outer space may be the target of our news expansion, and I am very glad that cooperation with the Roscosmos Corporation has taken shape very quickly and harmoniously,” TASS quoted Mikhailov as saying.

Misurkin task will be to report on the space station’s daily routine. His reports will be available to the agency’s readership from TASS news resources and his photo and video contributions will be uploaded to the agency’s website and official pages on social media.

“The agency’s readership will have a chance to learn far more facts and details about the cosmonauts’ work in space, the research experiments they conduct, and the distinguishing features of a space flight. Roscosmos cosmonauts – the direct participants in the process – will be sharing their first-hand experience,” Rogozin explained.

Miruskin is scheduled to leave the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the ISS on Dec. 8 together with Yusako Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano onboard the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft for a commercial mission. Before departing for Baikonur, Misurkin will be handed a special TASS correspondent’s ID.

Headquartered in Moscow, TASS celebrated its 117th anniversary on September 1, 2021.
The state-run news agency has almost 2,000 employees worldwide, regional news centers in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg and dozens of bureaus in Russia’s regions, as well as 63 bureaus in 60 countries. The agency publishes about 2,000 news items and about 600-800 images and videos from its own correspondents in Russia and abroad every day.

TASS is an active and respected member of the following global and regional organizations: the World Media Summit (WMS); News Agencies World Congress (NAWC); the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA); the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA); the Black Sea Association of National News Agencies (BSANNA); the CIS Council of Heads of State News Agencies (CIS Information Council); and the Association of National News Agencies of the CIS Member States (ANIA).

With reporting by TASS