Angle down icon An icon within the form of an angle pointing down. NASA astronaut Anil Menon together with his spouse, SpaceX lead house operations engineer Anna Menon, and their two kids, Grace and James. Anil Menon Anil Menon is a former SpaceX medical director, flight surgeon, and a newly minted NASA astronaut.However he stated his most necessary (and difficult) job is being a dad to his two younger kids.Menon encourages mother and father: If you happen to generally is a dad or mum, you could be an astronaut, he stated. Anil Menon is certainly one of NASA’s latest astronauts and former SpaceX flight surgeon, however none of that compares to, what he stated, is his hardest job: being a dad.”I’d say that parenting might be probably the most difficult factor that I do, as a result of it requires a lot emotional intelligence,” he stated.On prime of all of it, his spouse, Anna Menon, is a lead house operations engineer at SpaceX. She’s gearing as much as go to house too, as a crew member on the Polaris Daybreak mission. Anil and Anna Menon pose collectively of their respective NASA and SpaceX astronaut jumpsuits. Anil Menon Balancing work and household life is not simple for anybody. However when each mother and father work in house flight, distinctive challenges come up like conflicting schedules and time administration. Collectively, Anil and Anna Menon have crafted a selected method to parenting. Above all, they work to indicate their kids, ages 3 and 6, that it is necessary to observe their goals — even when these goals are usually not the identical as their mother and father’.Here is how Anil and Anna handle their demanding careers whereas elevating two younger youngsters.Astronaut-level downside solvingAstronauts are continuously juggling a bunch of various issues underneath excessive strain, and fixing them in actual time. Funnily sufficient, so are mother and father.As a dad, Anil Menon makes use of his astronaut problem-solving expertise on a regular basis, he stated. Particularly when the calls for of his job current logistical challenges. “After we took on these jobs, that helped tremendously with parenting,” he stated. Anil Menon makes use of the problem-solving expertise he gained from astronaut coaching to assist him juggle parenting challenges. NASA/James Blair For instance, when he was coaching to grow to be a NASA astronaut in Houston, his spouse was known as away to LA for a month to behave as mission director for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 launch.Her flight simulation shifts may occur at totally different occasions of the day and final properly into the evening, whereas his NASA schedule in Houston may have very early begin occasions. However the couple did not dwell on their difficult circumstances and as an alternative centered on discovering an answer collectively. Finally, they determined to have the youngsters keep in LA with mother for a month and employed a nanny to journey with them. “We had been fortunate to have the additional help and the youngsters had enjoyable,” Anil Menon stated.This is only one instance the place Anil and Anna have been pulled in a single path or one other. Throughout astronaut coaching, Anil spent two months away from house in Florida studying methods to fly a T-6 plane for pilot coaching.And as soon as Anna Menon was chosen to fly on SpaceX’s Polaris Daybreak mission, scheduled to launch no sooner than this summer season, each she and Anil had been busy with house flight coaching. But, regardless of the time dedication, their kids are nonetheless central to their lives.”As we have gotten nearer to her launch date, and we simply completed my coaching, alongside the way in which we have found methods of involving the youngsters in this stuff — bringing them nearer and making that distance appear smaller,” Anil Menon stated. For instance, he introduced his two youngsters, James and Grace, to his spacewalk coaching. And at SpaceX, the youngsters obtained to discover contained in the Dragon mission capsule. Plus, the couple stated they love going to their youngsters’ college to debate their careers.Overcoming logistical challenges like these is why Anil believes that parenting is one of the best astronaut coaching there’s.”I actually encourage mother and father to use to this new astronaut program,” he stated. “If they’ll try this, then they are often an astronaut.”Inspiring their youngsters to shoot for the moonTheir hope is not that their youngsters will observe of their footsteps and grow to be astronauts themselves. Reasonably, Anil and Anna Menon hope that by displaying James and Grace how passionate they’re about their careers, their youngsters will really feel inspired to chase their very own goals, it doesn’t matter what they’re. Regardless of their busy schedules, Anna and Anil Menon all the time discover time to spend with their youngsters, whether or not they’re exploring the SpaceX Dragon capsule or out for a hike. Anil Menon Anil utilized to NASA’s astronaut program a number of occasions earlier than getting accepted. Regardless that he thought “it in all probability had a 0% likelihood of occurring” he stored making use of.”They is probably not inquisitive about house, and so they in all probability will not have an interest,” Anil Menon stated with amusing. “However hopefully they see that it is necessary to observe your ardour. That is the mannequin we’re attempting to show to them. As a result of you’ll be able to inform youngsters something, however I feel actions communicate louder than phrases.”Setting that instance is what motivates Anil and Anna Menon to maintain saying sure to new alternatives, even when it means studying to adapt to new challenges, Anil stated.