New Delhi: Indian-origin astronaut Anil Menon, will head to the International Space Station on 14 July aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, NASA announced on 9 July. He will be accompanied by cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, as the trio is set to join the Expedition 74 crew.
The three of them are expected to spend about eight months at the ISS before returning to Earth in April 2027. While this is Menon’s first flight to space, it will be Dubrov and Kikina second time leaving the Earth.
During the eight months, Menon will study the production of semiconductor crystals in space, substances which are used in the mass production of components needed for high performance computers. He will also study how being in space impacts blood flow in human beings, and use AI and augmented reality to conduct ultrasounds aiming to eventually reduce the dependence of astronauts on medical support from Earth.
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Who is Anil Menon?
Menon is a 49-year-old emergency medicine physician and a US Space Force colonel. Born to Ukrainian and Indian parents, he was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He went on to do a Bachelors in Neurobiology at Harvard University, and then do a masters in mechanical engineering at Stanford University in 2004. After his studies in emergency medicine and wilderness medicine, he now holds a board certification in aerospace medicine too.
Menon’s research in medicine has taken him from studying Huntington’s diseases at Harvard to spending a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar working on Polio vaccination. He was even deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom and worked for the Himalayan Rescue Association to care for climbers on Mount Everest. As a physician he was a first responder during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 2015 earthquake in Nepal, and the 2011 Reno Air Show accident.
When Menon was transferred to the 173rd Fighter Wing for his military duty he also studied on the side and published a thesis on medical kits for commercial space flights. Menon has also worked with SpaceX where he began the medical program and helped prepare the company for its first human flights.
Menon’s journey at NASA began in 2014 first as a flight surgeon then as a member of the Human Health and Performance Directorate. In January 2022, after two years of training, he reported to duty as an astronaut candidate.
Menon’s wife, Anna Menon, is also an astronaut and has flown on the SPaxeX Polaris Dawn private mission in September 2024.
Ready to take off
The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft will take off at 10:47am EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and its launch and docking coverage will be available to watch on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel.
The spacecraft will orbit the earth twice before docking at 1:56pm to the Prichal module above the ISS. The Soyuz will then be connected to the orbiting laboratory.