Anil Menon (NASA astronaut)

This article is about the NASA astronaut. For the writer, see Anil Menon.

Anil Menon
NASA portrait, 2021
Born	1976 (age 47–48) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (BS) Stanford University (MS, MD) University of Texas, Galveston (MPH)
Space career
NASA astronaut
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel, USAF
Selection	NASA Group 23 (2021)

Anil Menon is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, emergency medicine physician and NASA astronaut. ^[1]

He was a flight surgeon at NASA and the medical director at SpaceX before being selected as a candidate for an astronaut at NASA. ^[2]

Early life and education

Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants. ^[1] Menon graduated from Saint Paul Academy and Summit School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1995. He received Bachelor’s Degree in Neurobiology from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999. At Harvard, Menon conducted research on Huntington's disease.^{[ citation needed ]} He later spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to study and supported a Polio vaccination drive.^{[ citation needed ]}

He attended Stanford Medical School in 2004 where he studied engineering and medicine and worked on coding soft tissue at NASA Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, California. During his residency training in 2012 for emergency medicine, Menon joined the California Air National Guard and gained experience in wilderness medicine through support for remote adventure races like Racing The Planet.^{[ citation needed ]}

Air Force career

Anil Menon poses in front of an F-15 Eagle at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Oregon

Anil Menon was transferred to the 173rd Fighter Wing for military duty and pursued a residency in aerospace medicine at UTMB-Galveston, where he published his thesis on medical kits for commercial spaceflight. During his aerospace training, he deployed twice with the U.S. Air Force critical care air transport team to treat and transport wounded warriors. He later transferred to the Air Force reserves, 45th operational group, Detachment 3 of the 45th Space Wing to provide medical direction for launch and landings.

Flight Surgeon career

Air Force

Menon is an actively practicing emergency medicine physician with fellowship training in wilderness and aerospace medicine. As a physician, he was a first responder and joined the International Medical Corps in 2010 during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 2015 earthquake in Nepal, and the 2011 Reno Air Show accident. In the Air Force, Menon supported the 45th Space Wing as a flight surgeon and the 173rd Fighter Wing, where he logged over 100 sorties in the F-15 fighter jet and transported over 100 patients as part of the critical care air transport team.

Anil Menon at mission control, Houston

NASA

Soyuz MS-06 landing where Anil Menon, NASA's flight surgeon taking health checks of NASA Astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei

Anil and Anna Menon at NASA Mission Control Houston Texas to direct ISS US EVA 28

Menon started as a NASA flight surgeon in 2014. He supported four long-duration crew members on the International Space Station as the deputy crew surgeon for Soyuz missions Soyuz TMA-13M and Soyuz TMA-17M and prime crew surgeon for Soyuz MS-06 . As a member of the Human Health and Performance Directorate, he also served as the medical lead for the health maintenance system and direct return aircraft development. He lived and worked in Star City, Russia, for more than six months.

SpaceX Medical Director

Anil Menon joined SpaceX in April 2018 as its first flight surgeon. He was present at four Crew Dragon missions from SpaceX Demo-2 through Inspiration4, especially at the times of recovery and crew suit-up. In this way he helped to launch the company's first humans to space during NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission as well as first civilians on Inspiration4 mission and building a medical organization to support the human system during future missions such as Starship. ^[1] After rejoining NASA as a astronaut candidate, he left SpaceX in December 2021. ^[2]

Anil Menon on left after Demo-2 recovery

NASA astronaut career

NASA Astronaut Group 23

In December 2021, Menon was selected as an NASA astronaut. ^[3] Menon reported for duty in January 2022 and completed two years of initial astronaut training as a NASA astronaut candidate on March 5, 2024. ^[4]

Since completion of initial astronaut training, Menon could be assigned to missions that involve performing research aboard the International Space Station as well as deep space missions to destinations including the Moon on NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket. ^[5]

Personal life

He is married to Anna Menon, who is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX and a spaceflight crew member, under Jared Isaacman's Polaris program. ^[1] They have two children. ^[6] Both he and his wife appeared in the final episode of the five-episode television documentary entitled Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space , released on Netflix in September 2021. ^[7]

References

1. Mars, Kelli (2021-12-03). "NASA Astronaut Candidate Anil Menon". NASA. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
2. "See Anil Menon's activity on LinkedIn". Linkedin.com. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
3. Rincon, Paul (2021-11-06). "Nasa unveils new class of astronaut candidates". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2021-11-06. Anil Menon, 45, a flight surgeon for Elon Musk's company SpaceX who helped launch the first private flight to the International Space Station
4. "Off to Survival School! My classmates and I will learn how to work as a team in extreme conditions. Time to get comfortable being uncomfortable". Twitter.com. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
5. "Meet Anil Menon, born to immigrant parents, chosen for NASA's 2021 astronaut class". Funnycanny.com. 8 December 2021. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
6. Singh, Surendra (December 8, 2021). "menon: Nasa selects PIO Anil Menon and 9 other candidates from 12,000 aspirants for Moon mission". The Times of India . Retrieved 2021-12-22.
7. Petski, Denise (3 August 2021). "Netflix Greenlights 'Inspiration4' All Civilian Space Mission Docuseries From 'The Last Dance' Team". Deadline Hollywood.