Categories: NASA

We Love Astronaut Leland Melvin’s Official NASA Portrait

Astronaut Leland Melvin won the internet this week – and increased NASA’s “Awwww!” factor — when this photo surfaced of him and his two dogs, Jake and Scout. Melvin admitted on Twitter that he snuck the dogs into the photo shoot for his “real” official NASA portrait (see below). A look at his Twitter feed shows he obviously loves his dogs, as they dominate the images he shares.

Melvin appeared on the National Geographic Show “Dog Whisperer” and according to a blurb about the show Jake and Scout wandered into Leland’s yard one day. They were on the show to help with Jake, who is very protective of Leland and won’t let anyone approach him.

The Tweet that started it all:

And here’s Melvin’s real official photo that is used on his NASA bio:

Astronaut Leland D. Melvin, mission specialist for the STS-129 space shuttle mission. Credit: NASA.
Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004. She is the author of a new book on the Apollo program, "Eight Years to the Moon," which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible. Her first book, "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond.

Recent Posts

Eggshell Planets Have a Thin Brittle Crust and No Mountains or Tectonics

Planets without plate tectonics are unlikely to be habitable. But currently, we've never seen the…

3 hours ago

LightSail 2 has Been Flying for 30 Months now, Paving the way for Future Solar Sail Missions

Even after 30 months in space, The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 mission continues to successfully…

5 hours ago

Orbital Launch in January? Elon Musk Updates His Vision for SpaceX’s Starship

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has laid out a scenario for space travel that calls for…

18 hours ago

Maybe There’s No Way to Tell if Habitable Planets Orbit Proxima Centauri… Yet!

In a new study, a team of astronomers come to the conclusion that Proxima b…

23 hours ago

A new Simulation of the Universe Contains 60 Trillion Particles, the Most Ever

Using new simulation suite, a team of scientists were able to conduct the largest set…

2 days ago

The Next Generation Very Large Array Would be 263 Radio Telescopes Spread Across North America

The iconic Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico has been at the forefront of…

2 days ago