Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 11:13am on 17 Jul 2026,Friday Science
Indian-origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon has begun his first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) after lifting off aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft at 8:17 PM IST yesterday. The spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Menon alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. It successfully reached orbit and docked automatically with the ISS's Prichal module following a two-orbit journey lasting about three hours. According to NASA, the newly arrived crew will spend around eight months aboard the orbital laboratory conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations before returning to Earth in April 2027, completing Menon's maiden spaceflight mission.
