{"id":244970,"date":"2025-07-02T03:01:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=396732ce30b6ed2f86feaa58325a8102"},"modified":"2025-07-02T03:01:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:01:51","slug":"nasa-assigns-astronaut-anil-menon-to-first-space-station-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=244970","title":{"rendered":"NASA Assigns Astronaut Anil Menon to First Space Station Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NASA astronaut Anil Menon poses for a portrait at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston. <\/div>\n
Credit: NASA\/Josh Valcarcel<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NASA astronaut Anil Menon<\/a> will embark on his first mission to the International Space Station, serving as a flight engineer and Expedition 75 crew member.<\/p>\n

Menon will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft in June 2026, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. After launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the trio will spend approximately eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory.<\/p>\n

During his expedition, Menon will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit humanity.<\/p>\n

Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Menon graduated with the 23rd astronaut class in 2024. After completing initial astronaut candidate training, he began preparing for his first space station flight assignment.<\/p>\n

Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis and is an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer, and colonel in the United States Space Force. He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a master\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering, and a medical degree from Stanford University in California. Menon completed his emergency medicine and aerospace medicine residency at Stanford and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.<\/p>\n

In his spare time, he still practices emergency medicine at Memorial Hermann\u2019s Texas Medical Center and teaches residents at the University of Texas\u2019 residency program. Menon served as SpaceX\u2019s first flight surgeon, helping to launch the first crewed Dragon spacecraft on NASA\u2019s SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building SpaceX\u2019s medical organization to support humans on future missions. He served as a crew flight surgeon for both SpaceX flights and NASA expeditions aboard the space station.<\/p>\n

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. Space station research supports the future of human spaceflight as NASA looks toward deep space missions to the Moon under the Artemis campaign and in preparation for future human missions to Mars, as well as expanding commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit and beyond. <\/p>\n

Learn more about International Space Station at:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/station<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

-end-<\/p>\n

Joshua Finch \/ Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ james.j.russell@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Shaneequa Vereen
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
shaneequa.y.vereen@nasa.gov<\/a> <\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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