Anna Menon Age, Boyfriend, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Full name	Anna Wilhelm Menon [1]Anna Menon-Instagram
Profession(s)	Astronaut, Space Operations Engineer
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 165 cm in meters- 1.65 m in feet & inches- 5’ 5”
Eye Colour	Light Brown
Hair Colour	Medium Blonde
Personal Life
Age	Not Known
Nationality	American
Hometown	Houston, Texas
College/University	• Texas Christian University, Texas, US • Duke University, North Carolina, US
Educational Qualification [2]Polaris Program	• A bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Spanish at Texas Christian University, Texas, US • A master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, North Carolina, US
Hobbies	Hiking, Flying Small Aeroplanes, Doing Salsa Dance
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	15 October 2016
Marriage Place	St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 5501 Main St at Houston, TX 77004
Family
Husband/Spouse	Anil Menon (NASA Astronaut and SpaceX Medical Director)
Parents	Father- Chandler Wilhelm Mother- Laura Wilhelm
Children	Son- James Menon (born in 2018) Daughter-Grace Elizabeth Menon (born in 2020)
Siblings	Brother-Alex Wilhelm Sister- Rachel Wilhelm

Some Lesser Known Facts About Anna Menon

• Anna Menon is an American astronaut who works as a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer and provider of space transportation services, founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk. On 14 February 2022, she came into the limelight after being chosen as a crew member of SpaceX’s 2022 space mission ‘Polaris Dawn.’

• Anna developed an interest in astronomy and space exploration at a very young age. When Anna was in fourth grade, her teacher Alison Smith Balch (daughter of Space Shuttle Challenger pilot Michael J. Smith) arranged an educational visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, an opportunity for Anna to experience a day in the life of an astronaut and flight controller in the mission control center.
  

  Childhood picture of Anna Menon in the mission control center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center

• On 16 February 2013, Anil Menon first met Anna at a mutual friend’s party. While being interviewed at the party, Anil wrapped his arms around Anna, surprising her for a moment. At the party, Anil and Anna also danced to the song ‘Call Me Maybe’ by Carly Rae Jepsen. Eventually, they started dating each other, meanwhile working together at NASA. Soon after, Anil proposed to Anna for marriage at Peveto art gallery.
  

  Anna and Anil while working together on SpaceX’s mission

• As a biomedical flight controller at NASA, she provided assistance to space station crews from the mission control center, helped integrate international partner engineers and medical facilities, and supervised the planning and execution of all biomedical operations.

•  After a seven-year-long career in NASA, she joined SpaceX.

• As a Mission Director at SpaceX, she is responsible for the development of crew operations, and she also serves in the mission control center. Additionally, the engineer also serves as a crew communicator.

• During her tenure at SpaceX, Menon oversaw the implementation of Dragon’s crew capabilities, meanwhile providing assistance in the development of the crew communicator operator role. Capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, the Dragon spacecraft is the only spacecraft as of 2022 which is capable of returning substantial amounts of cargo to Earth.

• Furthermore, Anna also developed operational responses for vehicle emergencies like cabin depressurisation and fire; cabin depressurisation is a process in which conditioned air is pumped into the spacecraft to create an appropriate atmosphere for the crew.

• The Dragon missions in which she worked at SpaceX include Demo-2, Crew-1. CRS-22 and CRS-23.

• On 14 February 2022, the Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman announced Anna Menon’s name as a crew member for ‘Polaris Dawn,’ a planned private human spaceflight mission operated by SpaceX.  In February 2022, the human spaceflight was scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter of the year from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, situated in Florida US. She served as the medical officer and mission specialist for ‘Polaris Dawn.’ The crew comprised Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon, Scott Poteet and Sarah Gillis.
  

  (Left to Right) Polaris Dawn’s crew- Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, Jared Isaacman, and Sarah Gillis

• In 2021, Anna Menon was featured in the American docuseries ‘Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space,’ which streamed on Netflix.
  

• The engineer also joined hands with the World Health Organization (WHO) for providing relief during the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Menon has also served as a volunteer for the NGOs Engineers Without Borders and Engineering World Health organizations.