Anil Menon may become the first person of Indian origin to walk on the moon
WASHINGTON: DEC. 8 – NASA on Monday announced a team of 10 new astronauts for its future missions. Indian-origin physician Anil Menon is part of this new NASA team. From January next year, Menon will begin work in this new role at NASA.
Born to an Indian immigrant family in Ukraine, Minnesota, USA, Anil joined Space-X in 2018 and served as a chief flight surgeon during five launches there. In 2014, he worked with the International Space Station as a deputy crew surgeon.
Even before this, he has worked as a flight surgeon for the crew sent by NASA to the International Space Station.
From Space-X to NASA
45-year-old Anil Menon was selected for this NASA team after applying for the fifth time. In November this year, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who had been in space for six months from the Espace-X capsule, was safely ejected from his Dragon capsule by Anil Menon.
Menon, while talking to news agency FP, said, “It would be great that I can now physically feel this experience myself.” Talking about his medical research, he said, “I think my understanding of medicine will help in keeping people healthy and safe.” ,
Studying Neurobiology from Howard and Study on Polio in India
In 1999, Anil Menon received a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 2004.
In 2009, he graduated from Stanford Medical School with a Doctor of Medicine. During his Harvard days, Menon researched Huntington’s disease and spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassador Scholar to study polio vaccination. Menon also joined the California Air National Guard and gained experience on the medicine of the wild through remote adventure races such as Racing the Planet.
Work done from Nepal to Haiti earthquake
Emergency Medicine Physician Anil Menon has taken fellowship training in Aerospace Medicine. According to the official information given on the official website of NASA, he worked in the Haiti earthquake in the year 2010 and after that he also helped people in the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Menon has vast experience of working in emergency situations.
Menon has also been posted in Afghanistan with the US Army in “Operation Enduring Freedom”. Apart from this, he has also worked for the Himalayan Rescue Association for the care of climbers on Mount Everest, after which Menon was transferred to the 173rd Fighter Wing of the US Air Force, where he studied aerospace medicine.
Two years training, then you will get a chance to go to space
Six men and four women have been selected from 12,000 applicants for the 2021 team. The candidates will now have to undergo two years of training.
They will have to participate in a basic astronaut training program, in which the necessary knowledge and skills will be developed in the candidates to fly in space.
The candidates will be given skills to survive in water on the lines of the army, training to fly NASA’s T-38 jet and scuba driving training to be able to spacewalk.
Final selection as astronauts will be done only after these candidates pass the training with ‘certifactory level’, i.e. mere joining this team does not guarantee final inclusion in the mission.
