Who is Anna Menon? SpaceX Engineer and Former NASA Scientist, Married to Astronaut Anil Menon

Anna Menon is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX and serves as the mission director for the company. She is involved in the Polaris Dawn mission, a private crewed spaceflight that focuses on testing new technologies and performing a commercial spacewalk.

She is also the wife of Anil Menon, an astronaut of Indian origin who is set to serve as a flight engineer and crew member of Expedition 75 aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This mission is scheduled to launch in June 2026 on Russia’s Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft.

Anna's Career Trajectory

Anna Menon plays a pivotal role in advancing human spaceflight as the Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX. She manages the development of crew operations for the Dragon spacecraft and serves in mission control as both Mission Director and crew communicator.

At SpaceX, Anna has been instrumental in implementing Dragon’s crew capabilities, creating the crew communicator (CORE) role, and formulating emergency response protocols for scenarios like fires and cabin depressurization. Her mission control experience spans several high-profile missions, including Demo-2, Crew-1, Crew-3, Crew-4, CRS-22, CRS-23, and Axiom-1.

Impressively, before joining SpaceX, Anna spent seven years at NASA as a biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station. There, she supported astronauts from mission control, coordinated international medical operations, and led biomedical planning for Expedition 47/48.

Also read: Who Is Anil Menon? NASA’s Astronaut Set for His First Space Journey

Educational Background

Anna holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Spanish from Texas Christian University and a master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University. Driven by a deep sense of service, she contributed to the World Health Organization’s water and sanitation efforts following the 2015 Nepal earthquake and has volunteered with Engineers Without Borders and Engineering World Health.

Her passion for space was sparked in fourth grade by a NASA field trip led by her teacher, Alison Smith Balch, the daughter of Challenger pilot Michael J. Smith.

What Does She Enjoy Outside of NASA?

When Anna's not supporting missions or building systems for space, she enjoys hiking, piloting small aircraft, and salsa dancing. She treasures time with her family - husband Anil Menon, and their two children, James and Grace.