Polaris Dawn crew member pens book for children to read from space

Back in the days when both Anna Menon and her husband worked at SpaceX, the couple would spend daily commutes regaling their two children with fanciful stories.
The kids would soon be dropped off at daycare, and mom and dad would then head to SpaceX headquarters, at the time still located in the Los Angeles area. But despite the time the family spent apart, those stories they shared every day before separating became a meaningful way for them to remain connected.
In recent years, Menon found herself reflecting on those nostalgic memories as she trained for a journey that will in the coming days take her further from her family than she’s ever been before. As she prepared to head to outer space as part of the all-civilian Polaris Dawn crew, Menon found yet another way to stay tethered to her kids back on Earth.
Earlier this year, Menon co-authored a children’s book, “Kisses from Space,” that stemmed from her desire to share her cosmic adventures with her two young children. Menon has shared the book with her son and daughter many times already, but when she launches next week on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, she plans to read the book to them from all the way in orbit.
“It’s a story of how love can overcome any distance,” Menon said in a phone interview with USA TODAY after arriving this week at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for the launch. “And, it’s a story I wrote for my kids, ultimately.”
Polaris Dawn:SpaceX is about to launch a billionaire and 3 others into orbit on civilian mission
“Kisses from Space” tells the story of a mother dragon who returns home to her children after an out-of-this-world adventure. While the dragon characters are familiar to her children from those long-ago commutes, the story itself is a new one – inspired, of course, by Menon’s own experience preparing for Polaris Dawn.
“Those stories became wonderful connection points for us as we were apart for most of our days,” Menon recalled of the tales she would make up with her husband Anil Menon, who is now a NASA astronaut (the family has since relocated to Houston.)
While training for Polaris Dawn, Menon shared her idea of authoring a children’s book with Jared Isaacman, the billionaire entrepreneur funding the mission along with SpaceX. With Isaacman’s support, Menon recruited her cousin Keri Vasek to co-author the story with her and award-winning illustrator Andy Harkness to create the visuals.
“Kisses from Space” was published June 4 by Random House Books for Young Readers. Written in whimsical rhyme, the story of a mother’s unwavering love and devotion to her children is one Menon believes is relatable for any parents who have been away from their kids, even if it wasn’t as distant as outer space.
“It was just an entirely special process to get to write this book with Keri,” Menon said. “It’s a message that I do want to come across to my kids, but it’s a message that lots of people around the world can relate to.”
Menon arrived and entered quarantine with her family Monday at the Kennedy Space Center as she and the other crew members make the final preparations before launch, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
But when the four-member crew under Isaacman’s command rocket into the upper reaches of Earth’s orbit, Menon’s family will of course stay behind. To remind her children – James, 6, and Grace, 4 – that mom is still thinking of them, Menon plans to read “Kisses from Space” to them from the spacecraft on the second day of the mission.
Video of the book reading will be beamed live to her children, as well as some youngsters at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, before it is presented to the public at a later time, Menon said.
The copy of the book that Menon is reading in orbit will be signed by all four Polaris Dawn crew members and auctioned off to benefit St. Jude.
The first of three human spaceflights under the Polaris Program, Polaris Dawn is meant to test SpaceX technology to set the stage for future deep space exploration as NASA and other space agencies set their sights on destinations like Mars.
The Polaris Dawn crew will spend five days in orbit before reentering Earth’s atmosphere on day six and splashing down at one of seven sites off the Florida coast.
When the crew launches, they will reach an altitude of 870 miles above Earth’s surface – higher than any human has traveled since NASA’s Apollo lunar program in the 1970s – before descending to a new cruising orbit about 435 miles above Earth. The treacherous path will take the crew through the Van Allen radiation belts – or more than three times higher than the International Space Station.
While in orbit, the crew will complete some 40 scientific experiments – many of which are to understand the human body’s reaction to long spaceflights – and test a new laser-based satellite communication system using Starlink.
The crew will also attempt to become the first-ever private citizens to conduct a spacewalk, opening the Dragon’s hatch to expose themselves to the vacuum of space.
The spacewalk maneuver is an incredibly risky one, but Menon, a mission specialist and medical officer for Polaris Dawn, didn’t appear rattled at the prospect of it.
Until now, spacewalks have only ever been conducted by government astronauts. And because most spacecraft have airlocks, conducting one does not typically require depressurizing the entire capsule.
But because the Dragon does not have an airlock, the entire spacecraft will have to be depressurized before the hatch is opened, exposing all four crew members to the vacuum of space. For this reason Menon and her crewmates will all be wearing Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits designed by SpaceX to receive oxygen through tethers.
“There’s been a tremendous amount of preparation that’s gone into this by the SpaceX team,” she said.
For Menon, the upcoming trip to orbit is her first, despite working at SpaceX since 2018 as a lead operations engineer and serving in mission control during multiple crewed missions.
Because Anil only recently became a graduate of NASA’s astronaut program, Menon is also the first in her family to head to space.
“I’m incredibly honored to get to go and really thrilled to have the opportunity,” Menon said. “It was a dream from a young age and I never thought it would happen.”
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]