NASA has announced that astronaut Anil Menon will undertake his first journey to the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2026, where he will serve as a flight engineer and be part of the Expedition 75 crew. According to a statement from NASA, Menon will lift off aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft alongside Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.
The trio’s mission will commence from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their stay aboard the ISS is expected to last approximately eight months, during which they will contribute to the station’s ongoing scientific and technological endeavours.
During his tenure on the orbiting laboratory, Menon will engage in a range of scientific experiments and technology demonstrations aimed at advancing preparations for future human exploration of deep space and benefiting life on Earth, NASA noted.
The agency highlighted that “for nearly 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and conducting critical research for the benefit of humanity and our home planet.” It added that investigations aboard the ISS are key to NASA’s ambitions for future crewed missions to the Moon under the Artemis programme and eventual journeys to Mars, as well as to expanding commercial activities in low Earth orbit.
Who Is Anil Menon?
Anil Menon, selected by NASA in 2021 and a graduate of its 23rd astronaut class in 2024, trained as both an emergency medicine physician and a mechanical engineer. He also serves as a colonel in the United States Space Force. Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis and holds a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University, a master’s in mechanical engineering, and a medical degree from Stanford University. His residency in emergency and aerospace medicine was completed at Stanford and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
NASA detailed that, alongside his astronaut training, Menon continues to practise emergency medicine at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center and teaches residents at the University of Texas. He also previously worked as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, supporting the historic SpaceX Demo-2 mission that sent the first crewed Dragon spacecraft to orbit. During his tenure with SpaceX, he helped establish the company’s medical infrastructure to support future human missions and served as a crew flight surgeon on both SpaceX and NASA expeditions to the ISS.
This comes as Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is already onboard the ISS, conducting groundbreaking experiments to unravel how microgravity affects muscles and mental health, as part of the Axiom-4 private mission.
Shubhanshu Shukla Studies Muscle Loss, Mental Health in Space
While Menon prepares for his mission, Shubhanshu Shukla, part of the joint ISRO-NASA Axiom-4 mission, has been performing pivotal studies aboard the ISS. Nicknamed “Shux,” Shukla has been working in the Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) on a myogenesis study to understand how microgravity contributes to muscle loss. Axiom Space said, “By identifying the molecular pathways behind skeletal muscle dysfunction, the research could lead to targeted therapies to prevent atrophy during long-duration spaceflight.”
Axiom Space added that these insights could one day help develop medicines to treat muscle-wasting conditions on Earth, particularly among the elderly or immobile populations.
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