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Anil Menon set for first spaceflight to ISS on July 14
The astronaut will travel aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for an eight-month mission focused on scientific research and technology demonstrations in orbit.
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Malvika Choudhary - Mon, 15, Jun 2026
- 18:19 EDT
- 150
Anil Menon / NASA
Indian American NASA astronaut Anil Menon is scheduled to launch on his first spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 14 as part of Expeditions 74 and 75.
Menon will travel aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. The crew is expected to spend about eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory before returning to Earth in spring 2027.
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During his stay aboard the ISS, Menon will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations aimed at supporting future human exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, while also generating benefits on Earth.
Planned experiments include studies examining astronaut vein structure, blood flow and blood composition in microgravity. He will also participate in testing the production of intravenous fluids using the space station's potable water supply.
The Soyuz MS-29 mission will mark Menon's first journey to space since he was selected as part of NASA's 2021 astronaut class and reported for duty in January 2022.
Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Indian and Ukrainian immigrant parents, Menon is an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer and lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force. Before joining NASA's astronaut corps, he served as a NASA flight surgeon supporting International Space Station crews and later became SpaceX's first flight surgeon.
At SpaceX, Menon helped establish the company's medical program and supported its first human spaceflight mission, Demo-2, as well as subsequent crewed launches. NASA said he also helped develop medical systems to support future human spaceflight missions.
His career has combined medicine, engineering and military service. Menon served as a first responder during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Reno Air Show accident and the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
He also deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and served with the US Air Force critical care air transport team. As a flight surgeon, he logged more than 100 sorties in the F-15 and participated in the transport of more than 100 patients.
Menon graduated from St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Minnesota in 1995 and earned a bachelor's degree in neurobiology from Harvard University in 1999. He later received a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 2004 and a doctor of medicine degree from Stanford Medical School in 2006.
He subsequently completed a residency in emergency medicine and a fellowship in wilderness medicine at Stanford, followed by a residency in aerospace medicine and a master's degree in public health from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He is board-certified in both aerospace medicine and emergency medicine.
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