In a significant milestone for international space exploration, a Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina successfully lifted off and docked with the International Space Station (ISS). The launch took place from the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:17 pm IST on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. The launch was meticulously timed to coincide with the orbital path of the ISS as it flew directly over the launch site, allowing for an ultra-fast, highly efficient rendezvous and docking sequence.
The three-member crew of Expedition 75 embarked on their journey aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. Following a flawless ascent, the spacecraft separated from its carrier rocket and entered its designated preliminary orbit. Within a few hours, the automated docking system successfully guided the spacecraft to the Rassvet module on the Russian segment of the space station, marking another successful execution of the rapid-rendezvous flight profile.
Anil Menon’s Historic Journey and Background
Anil Menon, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force and a first-generation Indian-American, is making his maiden flight to space. Selected by NASA as part of its 2021 astronaut candidate class, Menon has a distinguished career spanning medicine, military service, and aerospace engineering. Prior to his selection as an astronaut, he served as SpaceX’s first
