NASA astronaut Anil Menon, team arrive at space station; enters at 2 am

WASHINGTON: NASA's space crew, including Indian-origin and half-Malayali Anil Menon, has arrived at the International Space Station. The crew arrived at the space station at 2 am Wednesday after a three-hour journey aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. Anil Menon's co-pilots are Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikini.

This is the first space mission for Anil Menon, who was born and raised in the United States. This is the second space flight for Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. The team is expected to spend about eight months at the space station conducting scientific research and experiments. The return trip to Earth is scheduled for April 2027. The spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8.17 pm last night.

The spacecraft successfully docked with the Prichal module of the International Space Station at 11.52 pm. It was expected to enter the space station at 1:30 am, but the wait was prolonged. As the connection with the tracking and data relay satellites was temporarily lost as it was about to enter the space station, the live broadcast was temporarily interrupted.