NASA doctor reaches orbit after four astronaut rejections
Anil Menon launched on a Soyuz mission after years as a flight surgeon at NASA and SpaceX, while his wife Anna has also flown and joined NASA’s astronaut corps.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Anil Menon has launched into space after NASA turned him down four times for its astronaut corps, completing a turn in a career that had already put him close to human spaceflight. Ars Technica reported that Menon, a physician and former NASA and SpaceX flight surgeon, lifted off Tuesday evening local time from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, with two Russian crewmates.
NASA said Menon and his crewmates arrived at the International Space Station. His flight also makes the Menon family unusual in the space program: his wife, Anna Menon, flew on the private Polaris Dawn mission in 2024 and was later selected as a NASA astronaut, according to Ars Technica.
Menon told Ars Technica that his fourth NASA rejection in 2017 left him believing his astronaut chances were gone. “I just did not see a pathway forward,” he said, adding that he thought there was “a zero percent chance.” He was 39 then, older than the typical astronaut candidate selected by NASA, according to the report.
Before that setback, Menon had built a career around emergency medicine, aviation and spaceflight support. Ars Technica reported that he studied neurobiology at Harvard, earned mechanical engineering and medical degrees at Stanford, worked as an emergency doctor in Los Angeles, served in the Air National Guard, and flew search-and-rescue missions in Afghanistan.
He joined NASA in 2014 as a flight surgeon, helping prepare and support six astronauts who flew long-duration missions to the space station on Russian Soyuz vehicles, according to Ars Technica. After the 2017 rejection, he shifted his focus toward space medicine, telling the outlet that if he could not fly himself, he wanted to help others do it.
In 2018, Menon left NASA for SpaceX as the company was preparing Crew Dragon for its first human mission. He told Ars Technica the move was “a big gamble” for his family because he and Anna Menon had careers and a home base in Houston.
At SpaceX, Menon worked with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken ahead of Demo-2, the first crewed Dragon test flight. Ars Technica reported that his role expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic after SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell directed employees to him for medical questions.
Menon helped oversee SpaceX’s pandemic response while also supporting Demo-2, according to the report. Ars Technica said that work included antibody testing that led to a Harvard collaboration and two Nature journal papers, while SpaceX also contributed parts for Medtronic ventilators and volunteers made masks for Los Angeles-area emergency departments.
NASA opened another astronaut application round in 2020, and Menon applied again while working through the pandemic and Dragon’s final preparations. Ars Technica reported that he was among more than 12,000 applicants.
He was selected about a year and a half later, after a call from then-astronaut office chief Reid Wiseman, according to Ars Technica. Menon later received his first flight assignment, initially to Boeing’s Starliner and then to Soyuz.
Anna Menon’s spaceflight path also ran through SpaceX. Ars Technica reported that she worked with Jared Isaacman’s Inspiration4 crew and was later invited to join Isaacman on Polaris Dawn, a five-day private mission that flew in 2024.
Before Anil Menon’s launch, Isaacman, now NASA administrator, joined family and friends in Baikonur, according to Ars Technica. Speaking at a ceremonial meeting, Isaacman said, “Few have ever worked harder in their life to chase their dream” and added, “No one has earned this more.”
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.