NASA astronaut Anil Menon is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station Tuesday, July 14, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. He will be accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, a June 15 press release from NASA said. The three will spend about eight months on ISS before returning to Earth in spring 2027.
NASA announced Menon would be available for limited media interviews beginning at 9 a.m. EDT Monday, June 22, to discuss his upcoming mission to the International Space Station as part of Expeditions 74/75.
The virtual interviews will take place from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, and will stream live on the agency’s YouTube channel.
At the ISS for those 8 months, Menon is expected to conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations “to help humans prepare for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, and to provide benefits on Earth,” NASA said.
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Among the experiments planned during his mission, he will participate in studies to better understand astronaut vein structure, blood flow, and blood composition in microgravity. He also will test producing intravenous fluids using the space station’s potable water.
The Soyuz MS-29 mission will be his first spaceflight after he was selected as part of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class.
Menon, who is a native of Minneapolis, is an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer, and colonel in the United States Space Force. He has also served as an expedition flight surgeon aboard the space station, which is now more than 25 years old.
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