Ahmedabad Times

From Everest to area: Nasa’s PIO astronaut Anil Menon to journey to ISS

Indian-American Nasa astronaut Anil Menon, 49, is about to embark on his first eight-month mission to the Worldwide Area Station on Tuesday. Menon is an emergency drugs doctor and US Area Drive Colonel whose Indian heritage stems from his father, who emigrated from India.Menon can be despatched to area on Tuesday on board Russia’s Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Throughout this mission, he’ll conduct essential analysis on the physiological impacts of long-duration microgravity and take a look at new medical applied sciences for future area exploration.Menon, who was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants is married to Anna Wilhelm Menon they usually have two youngsters. Anna can also be an astronaut and travelled to area in Sept 2024 as a part of Polaris Daybreak, a personal crewed spaceflight operated by SpaceX, for almost 5 days. After graduating from Harvard, Menon spent a 12 months in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, the place he studied and supported polio immunisation programmes. Throughout his time in India, he lived in Delhi’s Better Kailash and travelled to distant villages to assist administer vaccines. Menon has continuously voiced his delight in his Indian heritage, noting that the nation’s area ambitions encourage him.Throughout his stint with the US Air Drive, he served on the frontlines in Afghanistan throughout Operation Enduring Freedom and likewise labored for the Himalayan Rescue Affiliation, caring for climbers on Mount Everest. He has logged over 1,000 hours as a pilot and enjoys instructing normal aviation as an authorized flight teacher.Menon started his profession at Nasa as a flight surgeon in 2014 and labored with astronauts residing and dealing on the ISS. He joined SpaceX in 2018, the place he began the corporate’s medical programme, helped put together for its first human area flights and labored carefully on the event of Starship, the super-heavy rocket and spacecraft for endeavor missions to the moon, Mars and past. Menon was chosen as a Nasa astronaut in Dec 2021 and joined the two-year coaching subsequent month.