New Delhi: Indian origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon will embark on his first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2026, the US space agency said Tuesday.
In a statement, NASA said that Menon will be part of its Expedition 75 space mission, which is slated for launch around June 2026.
“Menon will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina,” the NASA statement read, adding that after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the crew will spend nearly 8 months aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Menon, who has been serving as a flight engineer with NASA, was selected in the space agency’s astronaut programme in 2021. After 3 years of rigorous training, he graduated with the 23rd astronaut class.
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Crew surgeon for NASA missions
Born and raised in Minneapolis, US, Menon is an emergency medicine physician and mechanical engineer by education and has served as a colonel in the United States Space Force.
“In his spare time, he still practices emergency medicine at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center and teaches residents at the University of Texas’ residency program,” Menon’s NASA profile reads.
Menon started as a NASA flight surgeon in 2014 and has since provided four long-duration crew members on the ISS support from the ground as the deputy crew surgeon for Soyuz missions Soyuz 39 and Soyuz 43, and served as the prime crew surgeon for Soyuz 52.
He has served as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch the first crewed Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building SpaceX’s medical organisation to support humans on future missions. He served as a crew flight surgeon for both SpaceX flights and NASA expeditions aboard the space station.
The Expedition 75 space mission is part of NASA’s mission to continue scientific explorations at the ISS.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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