NASA Announces It Will Send Dr.Anil Menon On Debut Spaceflight In 2026

Photo: NASA/James Blair

India-West News Desk

CAPE CANVERAL, FL – NASA astronaut Anil Menon will make his long-awaited journey to space in 2026, joining Expedition 75 for an extended mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the U.S. space agency announced on July 1.

Menon, who was selected to NASA’s astronaut corps in 2021 and graduated with the 23rd class after three years of intensive training, is set to launch in June 2026 aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. He will travel alongside Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The crew will live and work aboard the orbiting laboratory for nearly eight months, contributing to NASA’s ongoing scientific research and international collaboration aboard the ISS.

This will be Menon’s first spaceflight—but he is no stranger to space operations. A colonel in the United States Space Force, Menon began his aerospace career as a NASA flight surgeon in 2014. He supported multiple Soyuz missions as a deputy and prime crew surgeon, before taking on a pioneering role as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon. There, he helped launch the crewed Dragon spacecraft for NASA’s Demo-2 mission and built the commercial company’s medical operations for human spaceflight.

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Menon brings a rich interdisciplinary background to the mission. He is both a mechanical engineer and an emergency medicine physician and continues to practice medicine at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center. He also teaches residents at the University of Texas’ medical residency program.

Menon’s flight marks a milestone in a journey that has spanned the ground floors of ERs to the launchpads of cutting-edge space technology—and now, finally, to orbit.

Expedition 75 is part of NASA’s continued commitment to scientific discovery and international cooperation aboard the ISS, where Menon and his crewmates will conduct research critical to future missions beyond low Earth orbit.