Kochi: NASA astronaut Anil Menon of Indian roots has embarked on a space mission of eight-months to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts.
The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft lifted-off at 8:17 pm on Tuesday and is expected to dock at the orbital lab after a little over three hours.
The 49 year old Dr Menon was born in Minneapolis to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants. Dr Menon is an emergency medicine physician and a Colonel in the US Space Force.
Dr. Menon studied neurobiology at Harvard University before completing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a medical degree at Stanford University.
Dr. Menon began his career at NASA as a flight surgeon in 2014 and worked with astronauts living and working on the International Space Station.
He was selected as a NASA astronaut in December 2021 and joined the two-year training programme next month.
Dr. Menon’s wife, Anna Wilhelm, is also an astronaut and travelled to space in September 2024 as part of Polaris Dawn, a private crewed spaceflight operated by SpaceX.
Dr. Menon’s family roots trace back to Ottapalam in Kerala’s Palakkad district. His father, K. P. Shankaran Menon, is a native of Ottapalam, Palakkad.
Anil Menon takes off on a space mission
