NASA astronaut Anil Menon, of Indian descent, is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on July 14 aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for an eight-month science mission, according to reports published July 10, 2026. He will fly from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.
Born in Minneapolis to Ukrainian and Indian immigrant parents, Menon, 49, is an emergency medicine physician and a U.S. Space Force colonel. His early career included frontline service in Afghanistan with the U.S. Air Force during Operation Enduring Freedom and medical work with the Himalayan Rescue Association caring for climbers on Mount Everest. He also spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar supporting polio vaccination efforts.
Menon joined NASA in 2014 as a flight surgeon, supporting astronauts on the ISS. In 2018 he moved to SpaceX, where he launched the company’s medical program, helped prepare for its initial crewed flights, and contributed to development work on Starship. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in December 2021 and began the subsequent two-year training program the following month. His wife, Anna Wilhelm, is also an astronaut and flew on the private Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024.
During his extended stay aboard the station, Menon will lead and assist a range of biomedical and technology experiments focused on long-duration spaceflight. Planned investigations will examine how microgravity alters blood flow, vein structure, and blood composition. He will also test methods to produce intravenous fluids from the ISS potable water system—an approach that could be vital for medical care on deep-space missions with limited resupply.
In addition to medical research, Menon will continue work on in-space production of semiconductor crystals, a capability that could support manufacturing of parts for high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced medical devices. He will perform ultrasound studies using augmented reality and artificial intelligence tools designed to reduce dependence on ground-based medical support for future exploration missions.
The mission draws on Menon’s combined clinical, operational, and engineering experience and aims to advance both astronaut health and space-based manufacturing technologies that would be essential for longer missions beyond low Earth orbit.