Indian-origin NASA astronaut: Anil Menon, an Indian-origin doctor, is among the 10 new astronaut recruits selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its future space missions. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Indian and Ukrainian parents.
The 45-year-old is a lieutenant colonel at the US Air Force and has served NASA previously as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions on the International Space Station (ISS). He is married and has two children.
NASA announced its 2021 class of astronauts on December 6, 2021 from among over 12000 people who had applied to the space agency in March 2020. Among the selected 10 new astronauts, six are men, while four are women.
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NASA's Class of 2021NASA's new astronaut recruits include- Anil Menon, Nichole Ayers, Marcos Berrios, Christina Birch, Jessica Wittner, Luke Delaney, Deniz Burnham, Andre Douglas, Jack Hathaway, Christopher Williams. All the ten astronauts who are between the age of 32-45 years belong to diverse backgrounds. They will be spending the next two years training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. They will learn how to operate and maintain the International Space Station. They will also be trained for spacewalks, safely operate a T-38 training jet, develop robotics skills and learn Russian to communicate with their counterparts. They will be assigned to missions aboard the ISS or deeper into space after graduation. |
Significance
The new group of NASA astronauts have exciting spaceflight opportunities ahead of them, which include missions to the Moon. They will be a part of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and person of color to the Moon's surface as early as 2025.
From Alaska to Florida, the 10 women and men selected for our 2021 astronaut candidate class bring an incredible range of experience—which they'll use as we explore the Moon and expand our presence in low-Earth orbit.
— NASA (@NASA) December 6, 2021
Meet the team: https://t.co/P2roLmayhI pic.twitter.com/hyQV4PLKG2
About Anil Menon
• Anil Menon will be reporting for training as an astronaut in January 2022. He had graduated in neurobiology from Harvard University in 1999. He later did his master's in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 2004. He also completed doctor of medicine from Stanford Medical School.
• The 45-year-old was NASA- SpaceX's first flight surgeon in 2014. He had helped launch SpaceX's first humans to space during the Demo-2 mission in 2018.
• He was the lead flight surgeon for five SpaceX launches and also worked on its Starship project. He had also helped build a medical organization to support the human system during future missions.
• He has supported four long-duration crew members on the ISS as deputy crew surgeon for Soyuz 39 and Soyuz 43 missions and prime crew surgeon for Soyuz 52 mission.
• He had also served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force and logged over 100 sorties in F-15 fighter jet. He has helped transport over 100 patients as part of the critical care air transport team.
• As a doctor, he was the first responder during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2011 Reno Air Show accident. He was also deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
• He had also spent a year as a rotary ambassadorial scholar in India to study and support India's polio vaccination programme.
Background
NASA's last class of astronauts had graduated in 2017. Two of its members, Indian-origin Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, are currently aboard the International Space Station as a part of NASA-SpaceX's Crew-3 Mission. The Indian American astronaut, Raja Chari is the commander of the mission.
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