Meet Anna Menon, crew member of SpaceX mission and wife of Kerala-origin astronaut candidate

New York: All eyes are set on the Space Walk to be organised by SpaceX which is expected to take place by the end of the year.

SpaceX , the rocket company founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk, aims at achieving the Space Walk through its Starship Polaris Dawn mission.

One of the crew members of SpaceX is Anna Menon, wife of Malayali medical expert Dr Anil Menon. Dr Anil Menon who is based in Minnesota in the US, is an expert who is set to be part of future US space missions organised by NASA.

Anna is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX, where she manages the development of crew operations and serves in mission control as both a Mission Director and crew communicator.

During her tenure at SpaceX, Anna has led the implementation of Dragon's crew capabilities, helped create the crew communicator operator role, and developed critical operational responses to vehicle emergencies, such as a fire or cabin depressurisation. Anna served in mission control during multiple cargo and crew Dragon missions, including Demo-2, Crew-1, CRS-22, and CRS-23. Prior to SpaceX, she worked for seven years at NASA as a biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station.

She is a Lieutenant Colonel at the US Air Force, who was selected by NASA in December last year along with nine others to be astronauts for future missions.

Wife of Indian-origin doctor

Anil Menon, 45, SpaceX medical director was chosen by NASA in December 2021 as one of its astronauts for its future missions.

He was the flight surgeon of SpaceX company’s first human space mission. He was responsible for the medical care of astronauts. As a pilot, Anil has flying experience of more than 1000 hours. He was recently included in the ten-member future space mission of NASA.

Anil is the son of Shankaran Menon who migrated to the US and Ukrainian native Lisa Samoilenko. Three years ago Anna came to Kerala and paid a visit to Kochi and Alappuzha. The couple has two children.

In addition to pursuing her lifelong passion for space, Anna enjoys hiking, flying small airplanes, and salsa dancing, and her greatest love is her family, including husband Anil, son James, and daughter Grace.

About Polaris Dawn

Polaris Dawn is the first part of three phase Polaris human space missions. The crew will board the Dragon cargo spacecraft which will be launched into orbit by SpaceX Falcon rocket from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

SpaceX said the Dragon mission will take advantage of Falcon 9 and Dragon's maximum performance, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date and endeavouring to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown.

Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit, during which the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk, conduct scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights, and be the first crew to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, providing valuable data for future space communications systems necessary for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, the company said.

Polaris programme is aimed at furthering humanity’s exploration of stars while simultaneously helping to improve life on earth. The Polaris Dawn is the first of three human space flight missions under the Polaris programme. The mission includes testing the first ever Star link laser-based communications system and scientific research on human health both on earth and during space fight.

The Polaris Dawn crew would board the dragon spacecraft for the five-day long mission to be launched from NASA’s Kennedy space centre in Florida. The crew will evaluate the various health problems faced by astronauts besides preparing the protocol for the future space missions of SpaceX.

The mission will be commanded by billionaire Jared Isaac Man who led the Inspiration 4 mission in September 2021. Inspiration4 was the first fully private crewed mission flown by SpaceX.

SpaceX’s Polaris programme aims to reach highest ever orbital altitudes.

Besides Isaac Man and Anna, the Polaris Dawn crew includes SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis and Isaac man’s business associate Scott “Kidd” Poteet as pilot.

SpaceX’s Starship launch this year

SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket ever built, is likely to be launched into orbit sometime this year. This was disclosed by Elon Musk during an interview regarding the rocket launch. He also shared a video of the rocket standing tall at the launch centre.

The Starship, which stands 120-meter tall, has two parts and can carry a payload of over 100 tonnes. The rocket will play a crucial role in Elon Musk’s dream project of human settlement on the Moon and Mars.