His hobbies include underwater hunting, tennis, car repairs, tourism, yachting, volleyball and music.

In 1988, he entered the Chernigov High Air Force School for pilots, from which he graduated in 1992 as a pilot-engineer.

On 27 May 2009 Romanenko was launched into space as the commander of the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

After spending 187 days and 20 hours in space, Romanenko returned to Earth along with astronauts, Robert Thirsk and Frank de Winne on 1 December 2009.

On 19 April 2013 Romanenko completed his first spacewalk with fellow cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, a 6-hour 38 minute EVA to conduct repairs to the ISS.

[6] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.