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NASA astronaut Anil Menon and two Russian cosmonauts departed from Kazakhstan on Tuesday (July 14) aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for an eight-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft carrying Anil Menon and Russian astronauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina left the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 8:17 pm Indian time.
This vehicle will take about three hours to reach the space station and will make two rounds of the Earth. After this, it will automatically connect to the ‘Prichal Module’ of the station at 11:56 pm. According to NASA, this is Anil Menon’s first space journey, while both the Russian astronauts have gone on a space mission for the second time.
Anil Menon’s family members, including his astronaut wife Anna Wilhelm, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman were present at the Baikonur Cosmodrome during the launch of the space mission. After reaching the space station, these three astronauts will join the mission along with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos astronauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrei Fedyayev.
Will return to Earth in April 2027
This mission of Anil Menon, Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina will last for about eight months. All three are scheduled to return to Earth in April 2027. According to NASA, Anil Menon will demonstrate scientific research and new technologies in space. Their purpose is to advance human space exploration and develop technologies that benefit life on Earth.
Yelena Remizova, head of Russia’s international humanitarian cooperation agency Rossotrudnichestvo, had earlier told the government news agency Tass that paintings made by Indian school children are also being sent into space with this rocket.
Anil Menon has worked in US Air Force
Anil Menon was born in Minneapolis, USA, to immigrant parents of Ukrainian and Indian origin. He is an emergency medicine physician by profession and is a colonel in the American Space Force. During his service in the US Air Force, he worked on the front lines in Afghanistan under ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’. Apart from this, he also worked with the Himalayan Rescue Association, where he provided medical aid to climbers on Mount Everest.
Anil Menon (49) spent a year in India as a ‘Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar’ to study and support the polio vaccination campaign. He started his career as a ‘Flight Surgeon’ at NASA in 2014. During this time he worked with astronauts living and working on the International Space Station (ISS).
Anil Menon was selected as a NASA astronaut in December 2021. After this, he started preparations by joining a two-year training program next month. His wife Anna has traveled to space in September 2024 under the private human space mission ‘Polaris Dawn’ operated by SpaceX. This mission lasted for about five days.
Input – PTI
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