Nasa astronaut Anil Menon, of Indian descent, will launch to the International Space Station on July 14 for an eight-month mission aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.Menon, 49, an emergency medicine physician and a US Space Force colonel, will fly alongside cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. Born in Minneapolis to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants, he has had a diverse career spanning military service, humanitarian work and space medicine.During his US Air Force tenure, Menon served on the frontlines in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and later worked with the Himalayan Rescue Association, providing medical care to climbers on Mount Everest. He also spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar supporting polio vaccination initiatives.He joined Nasa as a flight surgeon in 2014, supporting astronauts on the ISS. In 2018, he moved to SpaceX, where he established the company’s medical programme, helped prepare for its first human spaceflights and contributed to the development of Starship. He was selected as a Nasa astronaut in December 2021.His wife, Anna Wilhelm, is also an astronaut and flew to space in September 2024 on the Polaris Dawn mission.During his ISS stay, Menon will study the physiological effects of long-duration spaceflight, examining how microgravity alters blood flow, vein structure and blood composition.He will also test technologies to produce intravenous fluids using the station’s potable water system, a capability critical for deep-space missions where medical supplies are limited. He will continue research on in-space production of semiconductor crystals for high-performance computing and AI. Additionally, Menon will perform ultrasound investigations using augmented reality and AI methods that could reduce reliance on Earth-based medical support on future missions.
