NEW DELHI, July 14: The Indian-origin astronaut Anil Menon blasted off for his first journey into space to the International Space Station on board Russia’s Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft on Tuesday.
He launched from the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan along with Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. This will be the second mission for both Dubrov and Kikina.
The trio is expected to spend about eight months conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations before returning to Earth in 2027. The spacecraft, which lifted off at 8:17 PM on Tuesday, is expected to dock at the orbital laboratory after a little over three hours.
During his expedition, Menon will participate in critical experiments to understand how the human body adapts to space. Researchers will study blood flow, vein structure and blood composition in microgravity. He will also help test the production of intravenous fluids using the station’s potable water, an innovation that could prove vital for future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
NASA says he will also take part in advanced medical and technology demonstrations, including ultrasound procedures that use augmented reality and artificial intelligence to support astronauts during future deep space missions.
Born to an Indian father and a Ukrainian mother in Minneapolis, Menon has degrees in neurobiology, mechanical engineering and medicine. Later, he built a career at the intersection of healthcare and space exploration. Menon is an emergency medicine physician and a US Space Force colonel.
During his stint with the US Air Force, he served on the frontlines in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and also worked for the Himalayan Rescue Association, caring for climbers on Mount Everest. Menon, 49, has also spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to study and support polio vaccination initiatives.
Menon began his career at NASA as a flight surgeon in 2014 and worked with astronauts living and working on the International Space Station. He joined SpaceX in 2018, where he started the company’s medical programme, helped prepare for its first human space flights and worked closely in the development of Starship, the super heavy rocket and spacecraft for undertaking missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.
He was selected as a NASA astronaut in December 2021 and joined the two-year training programme next month. Menon’s wife, Anna Wilhelm, is also an astronaut, who travelled to space in September 2024 in a private crewed spaceflight operated by SpaceX, which lasted nearly five days.
(Manas Dasgupta)
