A historic milestone unfolds tonight for the global Malayali community. Dr Anil Menon, a NASA astronaut of Malayalam heritage, is set to make history today by becoming the first person of Malayali descent to journey into Earth's orbit.

The 49-year-old aerospace expert and emergency medicine physician will lift off aboard the Russian space agency Roscosmos’s Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. The launch is scheduled for tonight at 8.17 PM IST (10.47 am EDT / 7.47 pm local time in Baikonur), riding a Soyuz 2.1a rocket into the evening sky from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Dr Menon will be joined on this long-duration mission by veteran Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. The trio will embark on a fast-track, two-orbit rendezvous profile to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) just three hours after liftoff. They will spend the next eight months living and working in orbit, conducting cutting-edge scientific research before returning to Earth in April 2027.

From medicine to the stars

Dr Menon boasts a decorated, high-intensity career spanning emergency medicine, military leadership and commercial aerospace development.

Military and medical excellence: He is an emergency medicine physician and holds the rank of Colonel in the United States Space Force. He previously served on the front lines in Afghanistan with the US Air Force during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Lineage: Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he is of mixed heritage. His father Sankaran Menon hails from Ottapalam in the Palakkad district of Kerala, India. His mother Elizaveta Samoilenko is of Ukrainian origin.

A spacefaring family: Exploration is deeply embedded in his household. His wife, Anna Menon, is a prominent SpaceX engineer who made her own journey into orbit in September 2024 as part of the private Polaris Dawn mission. The couple has two children, James and Grace.

The mission objectives

During his eight-month deployment as part of the ISS Expedition 74/75 crew, Dr Menon will leverage his medical background to serve as both a researcher and a test subject. His primary scientific focus includes

  • Space medicine: Studying the physiological toll of long-duration spaceflight, examining how microgravity alters human blood circulation, vein structure and blood composition.
  • Deep-space tech: Testing advanced hardware designed to produce medical-grade intravenous fluids directly from the station's recycled potable water supply.
  • Advanced tech manufacturing: Refining the orbital production of high-purity semiconductor crystals, a process that yields superior components for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing when performed away from Earth's gravity.

Live coverage of the countdown and subsequent docking sequence begins at 7.15 pm IST on NASA+, the agency's official YouTube channel, and streaming partners.