Rookie NASA astronaut Anil Menon set to blast off to ISS with Russian cosmonauts today—details here
Three astronauts are preparing for their journey to the International Space Station (ISS) and are slated to lift off today, July 14. NASA’s Anil Menon, alongside Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, will launch at 10:47 am EDT (8:17 pm IST) atop a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio is scheduled to dock at the orbital outpost’s Prichal module at 1:56 pm EDT (11:26 pm IST).
The Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft that will carry @NASA astronaut Anil Menin and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina to the International Space Station counts down to a launch at 10:47 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 14, from Kazakhstan. The new crew will dock just over three… pic.twitter.com/FHSWAJ3K9o
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) July 12, 2026
According to a NASA statement, the hatches between their MS-29 spacecraft and the station will open roughly two hours after docking, kickstarting their eight-and-a-half-month-long stay.
The arrival of MS-29 will soon be followed by the return of the MS-28 crew, which launched to the station in November 2025. That outgoing crew, which includes NASA’s Chris Williams and Russian space agency Roscosmos’s Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, is slated to return to Earth soon after the MS-29 trio arrives.
Where to watch the launch live?
The launch will be livestreamed and you can watch the live coverage of the mission on NASA’s official YouTube channel, Amazon Prime, NASA+, or its X (formerly Twitter) handle. The webcast of the launch will begin at 9:45 am EDT (7:15 pm IST), whereas the hatch opening and welcome coverage will begin at 3:30 pm EDT (1 am IST).
Seven ISS residents ready to welcome the MS-29 crew
The ISS currently hosts a diverse population of seven residents who are ready to welcome the incoming fliers. These include NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, and Chris Williams, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev, and Andrey Fedyaev.
The upcoming mission is the first for Anil Menon, a former flight surgeon for SpaceX. He is married to SpaceX engineer Anna Menon, who flew to space with current NASA administrator Jared Isaacman on the record-setting Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024.
Over the next eight and a half months, Anil Menon will conduct several experiments focused on the production of semiconductor crystals, performing ultrasound using artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality to reduce dependence on Earth for medical assistance, and understanding blood flow in microgravity to protect future astronauts.
On the other hand, Dubrov and Kikina will fly on their second long-term missions. Dubrov previously spent nearly a full year (355 days) in space from April 2021 to March 2022, whereas Kikina lived and worked aboard the orbital lab from October 2022 to March 2023. She was the first cosmonaut to launch on a private U.S. spacecraft (SpaceX's Crew-5) and is the only active female member of Russia’s astronaut corps.
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