Above the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour, NASA astronaut Anil Menon stepped into the vacuum of space for the first time on Thursday, joining commander Jessica Meir in a nearly seven-hour effort to reinforce the International Space Station's aging power systems. Born in Minneapolis to an Indian father and Ukrainian mother with roots in Kerala, Menon represents the quietly diverse human story woven into spaceflight's long arc. The work he and Meir performed on the Starboard 6 truss is not merely maintenance — it is preparation for an ending, as the ISS moves deliberately toward its planned 2030