New Delhi: NASA astronaut Dr. Anil Menon, whose family traces its roots to Kerala, is set to begin his first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) today as part of Expedition 75.
The mission is scheduled to lift off at 8:17 p.m. IST from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. Dr. Menon will travel alongside two Russian cosmonauts and is expected to spend eight months aboard the ISS.
A physician and engineer, Dr. Menon’s family hails from Ottapalam in Kerala’s Palakkad district. His father, Shankaran Menon, is a native of Ottapalam, while Dr. Menon was born and raised in the United States.
After earning degrees in engineering and medicine, Dr. Menon served as a Colonel in the U.S. Space Force and specialized in emergency medicine. He joined NASA in 2014 as a flight surgeon, providing medical support to astronauts assigned to missions aboard the International Space Station before being selected as an astronaut.
Dr. Menon’s wife, Anna Menon, has also made her mark in space exploration. She was part of the Polaris Dawn private space mission, which achieved significant milestones in commercial human spaceflight.
Meanwhile, Group Captain Prashanth B. Nair, one of the astronaut-designates selected for India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, also has roots in Palakkad, Kerala. He is expected to play a key role in India’s first indigenous human space mission, marking another proud chapter for the state in space exploration.
