New Delhi | Jagran World Desk: Lieutenant Colonel Anil Menon of the US Air Force, an Indian origin astronaut, has been selected by NASA along with nine others in its 2021 astronaut class for future space missions, the NASA announced this week. NASA administrator Bill Nelson introduced the 2021 astronaut class at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston. This is the first new class of NASA astronauts in four years.

“Today we welcome 10 new explorers, 10 members of the Artemis generation, NASA’s 2021 astronaut candidate class,” Nelson said. “Alone, each candidate has ‘the right stuff,’ but together they represent the creed of our country: E pluribus unum – out of many, one,” Nelson said in an official NASA statement.

“Each of you has amazing backgrounds,” Pam Melroy, former NASA astronaut and NASA’s deputy administrator, told the candidates. “You bring diversity in so many forms to our astronaut corps and you stepped up to one of the highest and most exciting forms of public service.”

Who is Anil Menon?

According to the information available on NASA website, Anil Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants. Scheduled to be deputed into his new NASA designation in January 2022, Menon was SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch its first humans to space during the Demo-2 mission and building a medical organization to support the human system during future missions. Prior, he served NASA as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions on the International Space Station.

Married to Anna Menon who works at SpaceX, Anil and Anna have two children. NASA says that Menon enjoys teaching general aviation as a certified flight instructor and has logged over 1,000 hours as a pilot.

Recently, while talking about his Indian roots, Anil said that Kerala has a special place in his heart since that’s the place where his father hails from. He added that he recently took his wife Anna to visit India. “Kerala has a special spot in my heart. The people are so welcoming. They are so warm and inviting. Spending time in India really helped set me up for this job, because it is those same skills that I’ll need to apply as an astronaut in the future,” Anil told The Indian Express.