Anna Menon is a Lead Space Operations Engineer
at SpaceX, where she manages the development of crew operations and serves in
mission control as both a Mission Director and crew communicator. During her
tenure at SpaceX, she has led the implementation of Dragons crew
capabilities, helped create the crew communicator operator role, and developed
critical operational responses to vehicle emergencies such as a fire or cabin
depressurization. Anna served in mission control during multiple Dragon
missions, such as
Demo-2,
Crew-1, CRS-22,
and CRS-23.
Prior to SpaceX, Anna worked for seven years at NASA as a
biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station. She received
her bachelors degree in Mathematics and Spanish from Texas Christian
University and her masters degree in Biomedical Engineering from Duke
University. Service and applying her engineering background to helping others
is important to Anna. Immediately after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, she
supported the World Health Organization water and sanitation response and has
also volunteered with the Engineers Without Borders and Engineering World
Health organizations. Her dream of flying to space began in fourth grade when
her teacher Alison Smith Balch (daughter of Space Shuttle Challenger pilot
Michael J. Smith) took her on an immersive field trip at NASA. In addition to
pursuing her lifelong passion for space, Anna enjoys hiking, flying small
airplanes, and salsa dancing, and her greatest love is her wonderful family,
including husband
Anil, son
James, and daughter Grace.