Human spaceflight

NASA publishes Anil Menon’s cargo Dragon hatch-opening record

The October 16 station log details pressure checks and sample transfers after the previous day’s docking. It records preparation for research, without experimental results.

17 October 2026 at 9:45 am ISTBy Mission Desk1 min read

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SpaceX’s cargo Dragon approaches the station before docking on October 15, 2026. This NASA broadcast image identifies the spacecraft; it does not show Menon’s later hatch work. Credit: NASA+.

NASA’s October 16 station log documents astronaut Anil Menon checking pressure and leaks, equalizing pressure and opening the hatch of SpaceX’s cargo Dragon after its October 15 arrival at the International Space Station.

The account places Menon inside Dragon first, followed by NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk. The four transferred scientific samples from portable freezers and incubators into station science freezers and research racks for later study.

The hatch operation followed the docking recorded in NASA’s separate October 15 post at 10:27 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time at the Harmony module’s space-facing port. The newly published account adds the crew’s subsequent access and sample-handling work to that arrival record.

Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants, according to his NASA biography. The agency identifies him as an emergency-medicine physician and a station flight engineer.

NASA’s October 16 log lists artificial-retina and heart-tissue experiments among the research being prepared. It describes planned studies and sample transfers, without reporting results from those experiments.

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