'Hello from the ISS': Indian-origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon shares first message from space

Indian-origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon has sent his first message from space after arriving at the International Space Station (ISS), thanking his family, colleagues and fellow space professionals as he begins an eight-month scientific mission in orbit.

In a video recorded from the ISS shortly after reaching the orbital laboratory, Menon reflected on the journey that brought him to space and acknowledged the people and organisations that helped make it possible.

"Hello from the International Space Station. It's day one for me, and I just wanted to say thank you to some of the folks that help make this dream a reality. Anna, Grace, James, thank you so much from deep in my heart. Grace, happy birthday, and I know some of my friends and colleagues from SpaceX, where I used to work, were out there rooting me on and sending me messages. Thank you all for teaching me how to do the impossible. I have used that lesson time and time again.


And to the guardians at the Space Force, this is the biggest domain, and your job, our job, is unbelievably big. I'm proud to serve alongside you, and also to NASA, who makes this all happen and is tasked with doing the near impossible, going to the moon, going to Mars, and pushing our boundaries where we have never gone, I am happy to be working alongside of you, using the space station as a stepping stone to those huge dreams of ours. Let's go, team. Let's do this."

Menon is the first NASA astronaut of Malayali heritage to travel to space.

Also Read: Meet Anil Menon, NASA astronaut who will spend 8 months aboard space station: All about the Indian-origin doctor who once served in Afghanistan

Menon reached the International Space Station aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft alongside Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.

Who is Anil Menon?

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Menon is an emergency medicine physician, aerospace medicine specialist and Colonel in the United States Space Force.

His father, K.P. Shankaran Menon, is from Ottapalam in Kerala's Palakkad district, while his mother, Elizabeth, emigrated from Ukraine to the United States.

Menon also shares a longstanding connection with India. As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, he spent a year in the country supporting polio vaccination programmes while studying public health.

Before becoming an astronaut, Menon built a career across some of the world's most demanding environments.

During Operation Enduring Freedom, he served with the US Air Force in Afghanistan, providing emergency medical care in combat conditions.

He later volunteered with the Himalayan Rescue Association on Mount Everest, treating climbers at high altitude and gaining expertise in expedition and wilderness medicine.

Menon studied neurobiology at Harvard University before earning both a master's degree in mechanical engineering and a medical degree from Stanford University. He later specialised in emergency and aerospace medicine.

Menon first joined NASA in 2014 as a flight surgeon, supporting astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

In 2018, he moved to SpaceX, where he established the company's medical programme and helped prepare its first crewed missions. He also contributed to the development of Starship, the fully reusable spacecraft being designed for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

NASA selected him as part of its 2021 astronaut class. After completing nearly two years of astronaut training, he received his first spaceflight assignment aboard Soyuz MS-29.

Spaceflight also runs in his family. His wife, Anna Wilhelm, travelled to orbit during SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission in 2024.

During Expedition 74, Menon and his crewmates will work alongside astronauts from NASA, Roscosmos and the European Space Agency, carrying out hundreds of scientific investigations spanning medicine, biology, Earth observation, physics and technology development.