Anil Menon

Yes — training is planned, but it’s also responsive. If a crew or instructor team sees that an area needs more reps, especially emergency procedures, the schedule can usually adapt so the skill is solid before moving on. One good example is specific details about a EVA that might be likely - there are some that are higher likelihood for us. Or, I was working more with our photographers, like Norah Moran, before the mission.

@astro_anil Cool! Is there buffer time for needing to dedicate more time to a single segment, such as emergency ops, if needed? 🚀

A week of pre-flight training is really a week of repetition, learning, and practice. Spaceflight preparation happens step by step, building the familiarity and confidence that matter when the mission begins.

Expedition 75 will bring together three launches and three crews, including Crew-12, Crew-13, and my mission. These patches represent a much broader team effort across NASA and our international partners.

@garrytan Quite the opposite. I’m not going to get enough. I’ll be flying to space 7/14/2026 and back 3/2027. I’m 100% sure it will be a different world when I return, like “planet of the agents.” The innovation and some of your updates may be what I miss the most over those 6 months.

If you’re sick of hearing about agents 2026 is going to be the eternal September for you

@SilvioChianese @annawmenon @DawnSC9 Thanks but I’m waiting for you to top it!

@astro_anil Looking great! But wow, @astro_anil and @annawmenon are really setting the bar high for couples selfies, @DawnSC9 !

I still can’t quite believe I get to work with my wife every day. We started at NASA in 2013, sat about 10 feet apart at SpaceX, and now we’re back at NASA together. This was my 8th NBL run out of 9.

Always amazing to watch these launches! I still remember the awe from 2018! x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

@SpaceAbhi I’m open to ideas as long as it’s not a lost in space theme…

@astro_anil The people could use a good space RomCom film now that Project Hail Mary has done its run. Just sayin!😉

A lot of spaceflight training is about building confidence before the real work begins. NBL training brings classroom instruction and pool runs together so crews can learn the procedures, practice them carefully, and build familiarity over time. That preparation is what makes execution possible. This was my first time working on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) in the pool — one of the tasks we may need to perform during an EVA on our upcoming mission. There's something grounding about getting your hands on hardware for the first time and starting to connect what you've studied with what you'll actually do. A long way to go, but that's what the training is for.

@megagoose11 On brand :) I thought that was @johnkrausphotos watching me solve a Rubik cube.

John Kraus replying under every AI image of Orion

@Astrobitica A lot of the story is in what happens after landing too. The key question isn’t just how the body changes in microgravity, but which changes recover quickly, which don’t, and how to train and support crews well enough for longer missions.

🚀 How long could humans survive off Earth? Longer than you might think — but it comes with a cost. Astronauts have already spent over a year in space aboard the International Space Station. But the human body isn’t built for microgravity: • Bones lose density • Muscles weaken • Fluids shift toward the head • Radiation exposure increases That’s why astronauts exercise for hours every day just to slow the damage. So yes — humans can survive off Earth. But long-term life in space will require new technology, protection, and adaptation. 📌 Save this reality check 💬 Would you live in space long-term? 🚀 Follow Astrobitica for the future of human spaceflight #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceFacts #AstronautLife #Microgravity #SpaceHealth #Astronomy #FutureOfSpace #Astrobitica

@FlorenceComite That’s one of the most important parts of this work. Spaceflight gives us a way to study how physiology adapts under extreme conditions over time, and those lessons can help shape both future exploration and human health here on Earth.

As we prepare for another mission to the Moon, we’re not just exploring space, we’re learning how the human body changes under extreme conditions. In microgravity, astronauts experience accelerated muscle loss, bone density decline, immune shifts, and even changes at the cellular level. In many ways, space acts as a compressed model of aging. But here’s what’s most important: these changes are not fixed. With the right interventions - targeted exercise, nutrition, sleep optimization, and biomarker tracking - many of these effects can be mitigated or even reversed. This is the foundation of precision health. What we’re learning in space is helping us better understand how to extend healthspan here on Earth.

@Space_meds It’s a useful model, especially for asking focused mechanistic questions in deep-space conditions. An interesting addition to whole-human physiology. There is real value in pairing results like this with what we learn from crews, animal studies, and operational medicine.

🌒 How NASA’s moon mission could help transform space medicine. 🩺 Artemis II’s AVATAR experiment will see organs-on-a-chip travel to the moon and back, but how revealing is this model really? #spacemedicine #organmodels scientificamerican.com/article/how-na…

Preparing for spaceflight also means participating in science. I recently completed a pre-flight 3 Tesla functional MRI on spatial mapping, and I’ll repeat it after flight to help us better understand how humans adapt to space.

@NASA Epic!!!!

Good morning, world! 🌎 We have spectacular new high-resolution images of our home planet, all of us looking back through the Orion capsule window at our Artemis II astronauts as they continue their journey to the Moon.

@vast Thoughtful medical system design matters more than people realize. In orbit, clear organization, good training, and the ability to find the right tool quickly can make a real difference when crews need to assess and respond to symptoms.

Astronaut health and safety in orbit is paramount. Dana Levin, Director of Space Medicine at Vast, inspects color-coded medical bags designed for crew to manage health and respond to symptoms aboard Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station.

@katlinegrey Fast turn around!

#Soyuz5 aka #Sunkar with the mockup of the payload has been rolled out today on Pad 45/1 Baikonur cosmodrome. The maiden launch is now scheduled for April 2 around 11:00 UTC.

Tomorrow @nasaartemis will carry four @nasaastronauts further than we ever imagined. @nasa science also lets us see beyond our reality. Yesterday, @astro_watkins trained on an EVA to help the alpha magnetic spectrometer gather 3X more data. Go NASA. Go Artemis!

@gnarlybygnat515 A lot of meaningful work in this field starts as something that feels a little unrealistic at first. Space medicine has moved forward because people were willing to take that “pipedream” seriously and keep building toward it.

My tattoo artist today asked me if a past version of myself would be surprised to see me doing what I do. I grinned and said, "Science? No. Working with NASA on space medicine research, yes -- an absolute pipedream." Sometimes it feels surreal. But...

@katlinegrey Excited for this one

An important launch is expected today - the first launch from Pad 31 Baikonur after the accident with the maintenance cabin in November 2025. Soyuz 2.1a will launch #ProgressMS33 cargo spacecraft to the ISS at 12:00 UTC.