NASA astronaut Anil Menon is set to embark on his first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as a flight engineer and a member of Expedition 75. He will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft in June 2026, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. The trio will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and spend roughly eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory. During his time on the space station, Menon will conduct a variety of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations aimed at preparing humans for future missions and benefiting life on Earth. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Menon graduated as part of the 23rd astronaut class in 2024. After completing his initial astronaut candidate training, he began gearing up for his first assignmeSCnt on the ISS.
All you need to know about Anil Menon
Originally from Minneapolis, Menon is not just an astronaut; he is also an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer, and a colonel in the United States Space Force. He holds a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and a medical degree from Stanford University. Menon completed his residencies in emergency medicine and aerospace medicine at Stanford and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
In his free time, Menon practices emergency medicine at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center and teaches residents in the University of Texas’ program. Before his journey with NASA, he played a crucial role as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, overseeing the launch of the first crewed Dragon spacecraft during NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission, and helped establish their medical organisation for supporting human spaceflight. He has also served as a crew flight surgeon for SpaceX missions and several NASA expeditions on the space station.
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