During their brief five-day space mission, the Polaris Dawn astronauts have a busy schedule, yet medical officer Anna Menon still managed to read to her children from orbit.

Just a day after blasting off into space and achieving historical milestones, Menon paused her series of scientific tasks for SpaceX to engage with her son and daughter. As preparations began for another groundbreaking event – the first commercial spacewalk – Menon read from a children’s book she co-wrote, with her kids watching from Earth.

“This book, ‘Kisses from Space,’ is a story I wrote for you, James and Grace, to remind you that I love you and am always thinking about you, even when we’re apart,” Menon expressed from the SpaceX Dragon capsule, where she and her teammates experienced the sensation of weightlessness.

However, her audience was not limited to just her children – James, aged 6, and Grace, aged 4 – as some kids from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital also tuned in to the live reading.

Rewatch Anna Menon Read the Children’s Book from Space

This virtual event took place on Wednesday and was presented by Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, who is now a mother of three at 32.

While Menon read “Kisses from Space,” James and Grace watched with their father Anil Menon, a NASA astronaut, from Florida, 435 miles below. The family traveled from Houston to Cape Canaveral to witness the Polaris Dawn launch and await the crew’s safe return.

“They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and since you’re so far away, we all miss you more than ever,” Anil Menon shared during the broadcast.

After reading, Menon joined her crewmates – commander Jared Isaacman, mission specialist Sarah Gillis, and Scott “Kidd” Poteet – to respond to some questions related to space from the children at St. Jude.

What Is ‘Kisses from Space’ About?

Menon recently discussed the book with YSL News during the week the Polaris Dawn crew arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for preparation.

She was inspired to create “Kisses from Space” while training for the Polaris Dawn mission—a project overseen by billionaire Jared Isaacman, focused on testing SpaceX technology needed for future deep-space explorations. Isaacman, who founded Shift4 Payment, provided funding for the mission in collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The book tells the tale of a mother dragon who returns home after an incredible adventure to share stories of her experiences with her children.

This story draws inspiration from Menon’s own journey as she readies for this ambitious space mission.

Additionally, it stems from a family tradition when both Anna and her husband Anil would create stories to entertain James and Grace during their trips to daycare while they were employed at SpaceX. Although the dragon figures may be familiar to their children, the narrative itself is entirely original.

Menon wrote the book alongside her cousin Keri Vasek, with illustrations provided by award-winning artist Andy Harkness. “Kisses from Space” was published on June 4 by Random House Books for Young Readers.

Menon shared with YSL News, “This is a tale of how love can conquer any distance. Ultimately, I wrote it for my children.”

The sales from this book will also support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

According to Richard Shadyac Jr., the CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising arm for St. Jude, he referred to the book reading as “an enjoyable way to fuse the wonder of space with storytelling for St. Jude patients.”

Shadyac remarked, “This initiative highlights the limitless possibilities within every child and the significant difference we can make in the lives of young cancer patients everywhere. We appreciate Polaris for enabling St. Jude patients and their families to create a wonderful memory that they will cherish and pass down for generations.”

What is Anna Menon doing in space?

Menon is expected to reunite with her family on Sunday when the SpaceX Dragon capsule makes its return to Earth’s atmosphere, landing in the waters off Florida.

This water landing would wrap up a five-day mission where Menon and the Polaris Dawn crew accomplished numerous key objectives to prepare for future manned missions to the moon and beyond, including Mars.

During the launch on Tuesday via a Falcon 9 rocket, the spacecraft successfully detached and utilized its thrusters to soar to altitudes reached by humans only once in the last fifty years. The astronauts soared over 870 miles above Earth—this marks the highest altitude achieved by anyone in space since the end of NASA’s Apollo program in the 1970s.

For Sarah Gillis and Menon, this journey holds extra significance: they have now traveled further from Earth than any other women before them. Additionally, they are the first SpaceX employees to orbit the planet.

On Thursday, the members of the Polaris Dawn crew made history again by being the first private astronauts to undertake a spacewalk. While only Isaacman and Gillis exited the spacecraft, Menon and Poteet also encountered the vacuum of space, necessitating that all four donned SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) suits.

While in orbit, the crew has experimented with a new laser-based satellite communication system utilizing Starlink and has been conducting nearly 40 scientific studies, primarily focused on how the human body responds to prolonged space travel.