Washington: President Donald Trump has praised Indian-origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon and two crewmates as “great Americans, great patriots, brave people” during a call to the International Space Station, inviting them to the Oval Office after their return to Earth.
“This is a great honor, to be with you is a great honor and I just want to thank Jessica, Anil, Jack, great Americans, great patriots, brave people,” Trump said during Friday’s call from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“I wouldn’t do it. I will tell you right now, I hate to admit it, I would not want to do it, but some people love it more than anything,” he said.
Trump praised the courage of Menon, Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, saying that even their selection for the mission was an achievement.
Menon, a colonel in the US Space Force, told Trump that he was proud to serve in space and spoke about a spacewalk he completed last week.
“Thank you, sir. And I would like to say, as a colonel in the Space Force, that I am very proud to serve in the largest domain imaginable,” Menon said.
“And last week, I got the great honor of doing a spacewalk and got to look at the space station from the robotic arm and saw the incredible ingenuity that we are capable of,” he said.
Menon said he was “so proud and excited” that the United States was preparing for missions beyond low-Earth orbit.
“We are going to pave the way to our next journey to the Moon, Moon Base and Mars,” he said. “And thank you for propelling us in that direction.”
The call followed Trump’s announcement of plans for a US Space Academy. He told the astronauts that the proposed institution would be placed at the same level as West Point, the Naval Academy, the Coast Guard Academy and the Air Force Academy.
“If we’re going to do it, it has to be at that very high level. Those are among the hardest schools to get into in the whole country,” Trump said.
Menon’s wife, Anna Menon, joined Trump at the space centre and briefly addressed the astronauts.
“Hi, it’s Anna. Great to see you guys up there. We love you guys. You’re doing a great job,” she said.
Trump said he was proud of establishing the Space Force during his first term. He argued that space-based intelligence had become important to US military operations and would grow further in importance with advances in technology.
“You’re really pioneers. In a true sense, they’re really pioneers,” Trump told the crew.
Hathaway, a Naval Academy graduate, said the institution would be ready to support the proposed Space Academy. Meir said the crew was completing several spacewalks and preparing for another one next week.
Trump concluded the call by asking the astronauts to return safely and offering to receive them at the White House.
“Great job. Very proud. We’re going to see you when you get back. In fact, if you want, Oval Office time, right?” Trump said. “So you’ll – we’ll see you in the Oval Office, OK? Thank you very much. Be safe.”
Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis to Indian and Ukrainian immigrant parents. NASA selected him for its 2021 astronaut candidate class after he had worked as SpaceX’s first flight surgeon and as a NASA crew flight surgeon supporting International Space Station missions.
He launched aboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft on July 14 with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. NaSA said three-member crew would spend about eight months aboard the orbital laboratory, conducting research and technology demonstrations before returning to Earth in April 2027.
(IANS)
