Minnesota Man May Be the Next Astronaut for NASA

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?

The chances of becoming an Astronaut with NASA? Recently there were 12,000 applicants wanting to be chosen to represent the United States through the NASA space program, and earlier this week, 10 Astronaut Candidates were chosen.

Out of those 10, Minnesota should be proud, as we have a Minneapolis man that has made that elite list.  His name is Dr. Anil Menon. Dr. Menon is 45 years old and will report for duty this coming January 2022.

Dr. Menon is a practicing Emergency Medical Physician, who also has training in wilderness and aerospace medicine.

Get our free mobile app

MINNESOTA MAN

Anil was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to his parents who were Ukrainian and Indian Immigrants. He and his wife Anna, who works at SpaceX, have two children. In addition to being a Physician, Dr. Menon also enjoys teaching aviation as a Certified Flight Instructor and loves backpacking with his family, and races like Ironman and Kokoro.

Dr. Menon is not new to NASA. He was a NASA Flight Surgeon in 2014 and supported 4 crew members on the International Space Station. In 2018, he joined SPACE X and started their medical program, and helped them prepare for their first human flights.  He helped start their research program, private astronaut programs,  and also worked on the development of the starship.

Dr. Menon practices regularly in local trauma centers, and his work in research has led to publications of over 20 scientific articles on emergency medicine as well as space medicine.

To learn more about Dr. Menon, and the other 9 chosen Astronaut Candidates, you can visit NASA.GOV by clicking here.