NASA astronaut Anil Menon talks space, perseverance and the St. Jude Memphis Marathon with patients

This Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity. You can watch the full conversation above. 

Later this year, NASA astronaut Anil Menon will participate in the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend from the International Space Station, becoming the first person to complete the race from space. Before taking on the 26.2-mile challenge in microgravity, Menon joined a group of St. Jude patients for a conversation about life in orbit, the journey that led him to become an astronaut and why supporting St. Jude is important to him.

Hayley Arceneaux:
My name is Hayley Arceneaux. I am a former St. Jude patient. I was treated for osteosarcoma, bone cancer, when I was 10 years old, and now I work at St. Jude as a physician associate.

And five years ago, I went to space on a mission called Inspiration4, which was raising money for St. Jude, and that's where I got to know Dr. Menon, Anil, who was my SpaceX doctor. And we were in such good hands with him, and he's become a wonderful friend. He's now a NASA astronaut on the International Space Station.

Anil, I was hoping you could introduce yourself to everyone and tell us what inspired you to become an astronaut.

Anil Menon:
Hi! Nice to meet you all, and it's great to talk to you. I'm super excited. Most exciting thing today for me. I wanted to be an astronaut since I saw a movie at the science museum. It was called "The Dream is Alive," and I saw these people working in space, and it was just so cool that I wanted to do it.

Hayley:
We have also heard the very exciting news that later this year you're going to be participating in our St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend from space. Now, this is a first for us. We haven't had anyone join who wasn't on Earth before.

Anil:
I know you've been doing the Memphis marathon for a while. And so, to be honest, you did inspire me. Hearing you talk about it encouraged me to do it.  It was so hard, and I was so glad to be able to finish it. I came back the next year, and this will be my third year doing it.

Hayley:
Well, we could not be more appreciative of your support of St. Jude and all the awareness that you're raising by doing this marathon in space. Why is supporting St. Jude important to you?

Anil:
I think that it does incredible work. On a big, big scale, it takes a lot of people, researchers and doctors and physicians' assistants, nurses, everybody contributing to make really big impacts.

And that's what I see happening with all the research that's being done there. And I know that the mission is to spread that same transformation and help to the rest of the world. So, to be a small part of that is wonderful and super important to me.

Hayley:
We really can't say how much we appreciate it. Now, tell us, how is this going to work? How are you going to be able to run a full 26.2 miles in microgravity?

Anil:
That's a good question. I will get on a treadmill. We will put a strap on top of myself. It pulls you down so you can simulate your body weight. On each side of it, there's going to be bungees that pull me down. And then I'll run on the treadmill for a pace that's really like the marathon itself. I've tried it here, and it's pretty tough.

Hayley:
Well, that is so impressive. I want to transition and allow some of our St. Jude patients to ask some questions. Let's start with Pashience.

Pashience:
Hello. My question for you is, what does a typical day on the station look like?

Anil:
Hi, Pashience. I usually wake up at about 6:30 a.m. and then I take some time to meditate and think about how do I bring my best self to the day. And I look out the window because I know this will go by really fast, and I try to appreciate this amazing sight of planet Earth.

And then I'll usually get breakfast. And we have a daily conference with all the flight controllers at NASA that help us support this mission. So, there are a lot of people working hard to make sure that we make the best use of the time up here, and there'll be research or exercise, or testing of new equipment that could get [future astronauts] to the Moon and Mars.

And then about 7:30 p.m., we have another conference with NASA on the ground, and they tell us how we did and we think about things we can do better and then we wrap up for the day and grab dinner together and then go to sleep, and we get to do it again the next day.

Hayley:
Well, every day sounds like an adventure. And I love that you start by looking out the window. So next, we have a question from Grayson.

Grayson:
How do astronauts eat, sleep, and exercise in microgravity?

Anil:
Hey, Grayson. The eating is pretty straightforward. We have all sorts of freeze-dried packages of food, and we'll put water into them. And it'll be things like fruits, or nuts, or dehydrated meats, or soups, things like that.

The sleeping is really interesting. It took me about a month to figure it out. You're in a very small room that's kind of like a box. And you can fall asleep hanging. And it's a really strange position to be in. I love feeling the pressure of a bed against me. But I figured out that I can put bungee cords around myself, and it kind of feels like I'm on a bed, and then I fall asleep.

And then outside of the treadmill, we also have a weight machine. We can do things like squats and push a bar up, or we can take the same bar and pull it up. And we do things like that to strengthen our legs because we're not using them much in space.

Hayley:
Sleeping wrapped in bungee cords definitely sounds like something to get used to. I'm glad you got it all figured out. Next, we have a question from Kai.

Kai:
How many times will you go around Earth while you're running?

Anil:
Hi, Kai. We're going so fast that if I run for 90 minutes, I will go around Earth once. So, I can basically run around Earth in 90 minutes. During the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis, I'll go around Earth maybe three times or so.

Hayley:
That's the coolest. And no one else can say that about the St. Jude Memphis Marathon. Next, we have a question from Nick.

Nick:
My question is, why did you want to run for St. Jude? I know you touched on it earlier, but if you could elaborate just a little bit.

Anil:
I want to run for people like you and Hayley. And I think to do something hard like that, the most important thing to me is to have a strong 'why' behind it. And it's what carries me through life. And I think a strong 'why' for me is knowing that, in some small way, we're all doing it together.

There was a moment during my last race that made it all clear. I wanted to run it in four hours, which was a bit out of my reach, and I was running with five other people. They could have finished it, but they slowed down. They figured out what pace I needed to be running at, and they ran the whole thing with me. They stayed with me and encouraged me and somehow got me mile to mile. And I was able to do it in about four hours, which, for me, was a huge accomplishment.

And I think it's a good metaphor for what we're all doing. Even though I'm far away in space, we're in it together and we're here to help each other out and do better together because we all win that way.

Hayley:
It is truly such a good analogy for teamwork, which you're continuing to do on the space station. So next, we have a question from Slater.
Slater: What is the most coolest thing you've seen from space?

Anil:
There are two cool things. And I always have a hard time saying which is cooler. But the first thing I saw was thunderstorms on the Earth. I was looking out the window of the Soyuz capsule that I flew up on, and we were just arriving. It was night and I was seeing all these flashes, and I did not know what they were. They looked like fireflies in the night. So that was really cool.

The other thing that was really cool was the aurora because I had seen it with my family once from the Earth, and it was this huge green wave that flooded across the sky. And it was fun to see it from this perspective, to see how it covers the whole Earth. It makes you wonder at our planet and what surrounds us.

Hayley:
We could talk to you all day. Unfortunately, we're almost out of time, but Cameron, I want you to ask your question.

Cameron:
When you were my age, I'm almost 13, what was your dream, or what did you want to be when you were an adult?

Anil:
I had two dreams. One was to be an astronaut, but I really wanted to play in the National Basketball Association (laughs). I wanted to play basketball. I quickly realized that one was a little bit out of my reach. But I tried pretty hard at both of those things. And I still enjoy playing basketball, and it's a lot easier in space. I could probably do a pretty cool dunk if we had a hoop up here.

Hayley:
Y'all need to get a hoop up there! Anil, we cannot thank you enough for your time and for your support of St. Jude. We appreciate you so much. Thank you again.

Anil:
Thank you for talking to me. It brightened up my day. And I find you all to be an absolute inspiration. So, thank you for taking your time to speak with me.