NASA Assigns Astronaut Anil Menon to First Space Station Mission
NASA astronaut Anil Menon is set to embark on his first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as a flight engineer and crew member of Expedition 75, scheduled for launch in June 2026.
Menon will travel aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft alongside Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. The mission will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the crew expected to remain on the ISS for approximately eight months.
While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Menon will support a wide range of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations aimed at preparing humans for future deep space missions and benefiting life on Earth.
Selected by NASA in 2021, Menon graduated from the agency’s 23rd astronaut class in 2024. A decorated physician and engineer, he brings a multidisciplinary background to the mission. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Menon is 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 in mechanical engineering, and a medical degree from Stanford University. He also completed his residency in emergency and aerospace medicine at Stanford and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Outside of NASA, Menon continues to practice emergency medicine at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center and teaches at the University of Texas. He previously served as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, playing a key role in the success of the SpaceX Demo-2 mission — the first crewed flight of the Dragon spacecraft — and establishing medical support systems for commercial spaceflight.
Menon’s upcoming mission underscores NASA’s continued commitment to advancing human spaceflight. For nearly 25 years, the International Space Station has supported continuous human presence in space, contributing critical research and innovation. The knowledge gained on the ISS fuels NASA’s future ambitions, including missions to the Moon under the Artemis program and eventual human exploration of Mars.
Anil Menon’s journey marks another chapter in this long-standing legacy, bridging the present with the future of human space exploration.