Launch Day: Menon, Dubrov & Kikina Board Russian Soyuz Rocket in Kazakhstan
Expedition 75 crewmembers: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, and Anna Kikina of Russia, right, depart building 254 for their Russian Soyuz launch
Expedition 75 crewmembers: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, and Anna Kikina of Russia, right, report to Roscosmos leadership as they depart building 254 for their Russian Soyuz launch
Expedition 75 crewmembers: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, and Anna Kikina of Russia, right, arrive at the launch pad to board their Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for launch
Expedition 75 crewmembers: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, and Anna Kikina of Russia, right, arrive at the launch pad to board their Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for launch
Expedition 75 Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina of Russia walks to board the Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for launch with NASA astronaut Anil Menon, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Russia, Tuesday, July 14, 2026 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
Expedition 75 Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Russia walks with Roscosmos Director of Human Spaceflight Programs Sergei Krikalev, left, and Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Bakanov to board the Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for launch
Expedition 75 NASA astronaut Anil Menon walks with NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson, left, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, right, to board the Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for launch
Expedition 75 crewmembers: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, Roscosmos cosmoanuts Pyotr Dubrov, and Anna Kikina of Russia, get in an elevator to board their Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for launch
A Russian Soyuz rocket was successfully launched to the International Space Station with Expedition 75 crewmembers: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, and Anna Kikina onboard, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at 10:47 a.m. EST (7:47 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio will spend about eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory before returning to Earth in spring 2027.
The same day, their Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station’s Prichal module.
The trio joined NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, and Chris Williams, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev, and Andrey Fedyaev of Russia.
During his expedition, Menon will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations intended to help humans prepare for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, and to provide benefits on Earth. Among the hundreds of experiments planned during his mission, he will participate in studies to better understand astronaut vein structure, blood flow, and blood composition in microgravity. He also will test producing intravenous fluids using the space station’s potable water.
This Soyuz MS-29 mission is his first spaceflight after he was selected as part of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class. A native of Minneapolis, Menon is an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer, and colonel in the United States Space Force. He also has served as an expedition flight surgeon supporting the agency’s crew members aboard the space station.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon's Official Biography:
For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.
To learn more about International Space Station research, operations, and its crews, visit:
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.
Image Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls/Victor Zelentsov
Date: July 14, 2026
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