Juggling Career With Dad Time

• Anil Menon is a former SpaceX medical director, flight surgeon, and new NASA astronaut.
• But he said his most important (and hardest) job is being a father to his two young children.
• Menon encourages parents: If you can be a parent, you can be an astronaut, he said.

Anil Menon is one of NASA’s newest astronauts and a former SpaceX flight surgeon, but none of that compares to what he says is his hardest job: being a dad.

“I would say being a parent is probably the hardest thing I do because it requires a lot of emotional intelligence,” he said.

To top it all off, his wife, Anna Menon, is a senior space operations engineer at SpaceX. She is also preparing to go into space, as a crew member of the Polaris Dawn mission.

Balancing work and family life is not easy for anyone. But when both parents work in spaceflight, unique challenges arise, such as conflicting schedules and time management.

Together, Anil and Anna Menon have developed a specific approach to parenting. Most importantly, they strive to show their 3- and 6-year-olds that it’s important to pursue their dreams, even if those dreams aren’t the same as their parents’.

Here’s how Anil and Anna manage their demanding careers while raising two young children.

Astronaut-level problem solving

Astronauts must constantly juggle many different problems under high pressure and solve them in real time. Oddly enough, so do parents.

As a father, Anil Menon constantly uses his astronaut problem-solving skills, he said. Especially when the demands of his job present logistical challenges.

“When we took these jobs, it helped us tremendously in our parenting,” he said.

For example, while he was training to become a NASA astronaut in Houston, his wife was called to Los Angeles for a month to act as mission director for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 launch.

His flight simulation changes could take place at different times of the day and last well into the night, while his schedule at NASA in Houston could start very early.

But the couple didn’t dwell on their difficult circumstances and instead focused on finding a solution together. Eventually, they decided to let the kids stay in Los Angeles with Mom for a month and hired a nanny to travel with them.

“We were lucky to have some extra support and the kids had a great time,” said Anil Menon.

This is just one example where Anil and Anna were pulled in one direction or another. During his astronaut training, Anil spent two months away from home in Florida learning to fly a T-6 aircraft for pilot training.

And once Anna Menon was selected to fly on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than this summer, she and Anil were busy practicing spaceflight. Yet, despite the time spent, their children remain at the heart of their lives.

“As we get closer to its launch date and having just completed my training, we have discovered along the way ways to engage kids in these things – bringing them closer and reducing the distance,” said said Anil Menon.

For example, he brought his two children, James and Grace, to his spacewalk training. And at SpaceX, children were able to explore the interior of the Dragon mission capsule. Additionally, the couple said they loved going to their children’s school to discuss their careers.

Overcoming logistical challenges like these is why Anil believes parenting is the best astronaut training there is.

“I certainly encourage parents to apply for this new astronaut program,” he said. “If they can do that, then they can become astronauts.”

Inspire their children to aim for the moon

Their hope is not that their children will follow in their footsteps and become astronauts themselves. Instead, Anil and Anna Menon hope that by showing James and Grace how passionate they are about their careers, their children will feel encouraged to pursue their own dreams, whatever they may be.

Anil applied to the NASA astronaut program several times before being accepted. Even though he thought “this probably had a 0% chance of happening,” he continued to apply.

“They may not be interested in space, and they probably won’t be,” Anil Menon said with a laugh. “But I hope they understand that it’s important to follow your passion. That’s the model we’re trying to show them. Because you can tell kids anything, but I think actions speak louder than the words.”

Leading by example is what motivates Anil and Anna Menon to keep saying yes to new opportunities, even if it means learning to adapt to new challenges, Anil said.