Overview

• Menon will launch in June 2026 aboard Soyuz MS-29 from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome with Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina for an eight-month expedition.
• He is now undergoing mission-specific preparations alongside his Roscosmos colleagues to master operational and safety protocols before launch.
• An emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer and U.S. Space Force colonel, Menon previously served as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon and has supported both NASA and commercial crew missions.
• The expedition will conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations aimed at informing future Artemis lunar missions and crewed voyages to Mars while delivering benefits for life on Earth.
• Menon’s assignment continues nearly 25 years of uninterrupted human presence on the ISS and underscores ongoing U.S.-Russia cooperation in low-Earth orbit.