Indian-Origin NASA Astronaut Anil Menon Arrives at ISS with Russian Cosmonauts
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and two Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) early Wednesday, July 15, 2026, aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft after a journey lasting just over three hours. The crew, including Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 8:17 p.m. IST on Tuesday, July 14, as the ISS passed overhead.
Following an eight-minute ascent to preliminary orbit, the Soyuz spacecraft executed a series of maneuvers to rendezvous with the ISS, docking at the Prichal module at 11:52 p.m. IST. After standard checks, the hatch opened at approximately 2:00 a.m. IST, allowing the trio to join the existing crew aboard the station.
The arrival was momentarily overshadowed by a temporary loss of video signal from the ISS as the hatch was about to open, caused by a gap in coverage from tracking and data relay satellites. The link was restored after 12 minutes once satellites were back in range.
Mr. Menon, 49, is making his first spaceflight, while Dubrov and Kikina are on their second missions. The crew will spend about eight months on the ISS, conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations, including tests for producing intravenous fluids from station water and refining semiconductor crystal growth in microgravity. They are scheduled to return to Earth in April 2027.
Born in Minneapolis to a Ukrainian mother and an Indian father from Kerala, Mr. Menon is an emergency medicine physician and a colonel in the U.S. Space Force. He previously served in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom, worked with the Himalayan Rescue Association on Mount Everest, and spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar supporting polio vaccination initiatives. He joined NASA as a flight surgeon in 2014, later worked at SpaceX developing its medical program and contributing to Starship development, and was selected as an astronaut in December 2021.
Mr. Menon's wife, Anna Wilhelm, herself an astronaut, flew on the private Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024. His family, including NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, were present at the Baikonur launch.
The mission also carries symbolic payload: drawings by Indian schoolchildren, winners of the 'First Forever' competition marking the 65th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight and India-Russia space cooperation, as reported by Russian state news agency TASS.
With the new arrivals, the ISS crew now includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, and Chris Williams; European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev, and Andrey Fedyaev.
