Anil Menon (NASA astronaut)

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

Anil Menon
NASA portrait, 2021
Born	(1976-10-15) October 15, 1976 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (BS) Stanford University (MS, MD) University of Texas Medical Branch (MPH)
Spouse	Anna Menon ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	2
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Rank	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.

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

Early life and education

Menon was born on October 15, 1976, and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants. 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.

Air Force career

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 the University of Texas Medical Branch, 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

Menon at the Mission Control Center in Houston

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.

NASA

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

Menon (left) with astronaut Doug Hurley after SpaceX Demo-2 recovery

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 the first civilians on the Inspiration4 mission and building a medical organization to support the human system during future missions such as Starship. After being accepted as an astronaut candidate, he left SpaceX in December 2021.

NASA astronaut career

NASA Astronaut Group 23

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

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.

Personal life

Anil Menon and his wife Anna at NASA Mission Control Center during ISS US EVA 28

He is married to Anna Menon, who is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX and a spaceflight crew member of Polaris Dawn as part of Jared Isaacman's Polaris program. They have two children. 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.