Indian-origin USAF doc among 10 chosen as NASA astronauts

Houston: Indian-origin physician Anil Menon, a lieutenant colonel at the US Air Force, has been selected by NASA along with nine others to be astronauts for future missions, the American space agency has announced. Menon, 45, was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants.

He was SpaceX's first flight surgeon, helping to launch the company's first humans to space during NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building a medical organisation to support the human system during future missions. In a statement, NASA announced that it has chosen 10 new astronaut candidates from a field of more than 12,000 applicants to represent the US and work for humanity's benefit in space.