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Indian American astronaut Anil Menon gets first spaceflight mission
He will be launched to the ISS aboard Soyuz MS-29 in June 2026.
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Bhavana P - Tue, 01, Jul 2025
- 16:17 EDT
- 23
NASA astronaut Anil Menon poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. / NASA/Josh Valcarcel
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that Indian-American astronaut Anil Menon will embark on his first spaceflight mission in June 2026.
Menon has been appointed as a flight engineer for the upcoming Expedition 75 mission. He will join Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, destined for the International Space Station (ISS).
Also read: Spaceship piloted by India's Shubhanshu Shukla docks with ISS
The crew will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and spend approximately eight months aboard the ISS, contributing to ongoing scientific research and technology demonstrations that support NASA’s long-term goals for deep space exploration, the American space agency said.
Born in Minneapolis to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants, Menon is an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer, and a colonel in the United States Space Force. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021 and graduated with NASA’s 23rd astronaut class in 2024.
He previously served as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, playing a key role in the NASA-SpaceX Demo-2 mission, the first crewed flight of the Dragon spacecraft. He also supported multiple ISS expeditions and SpaceX missions in a medical leadership capacity.
His upcoming role aboard the ISS reinforces NASA’s commitment to preparing for future missions to the Moon under Artemis and to Mars, while also supporting commercial development in low Earth orbit.
Menon holds degrees in neurobiology from Harvard, a masters degree in mechanical engineering, and a medical degree from Stanford University, and completed residency training in both emergency and aerospace medicine. In addition to his NASA duties, he continues to practice at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center and mentors medical residents at the University of Texas.
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