Accelerating Change is a series by @amandngocnguyen profiling the world’s top change makers
NASA Astronaut Leland Melvin Official Portrait With His Dogs
"Houston, we have a problem."
Astronaut Leland Melvin was training to perform a spacewalk at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a five million gallon pool that simulates space’s micro gravity, when he realized something had gone wrong. Very wrong.
In his spacesuit, 32 feet under water, he could not hear his instructor. As the team pulled him out of the water, Leland realized he was deaf. His suit was missing a Valsalva pad, a device that helps astronauts equalize air pressure. After an emergency surgery Leland’s hearing partially returned but he was medically disqualified and his dream of spaceflight was put on hold.
Leland turned to educating children about space. On February 1, 2003, Leland was on his way to work with teachers and students when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. To honor the legacy of his friends, he flew around the country to speak about their sacrifice for humanity at their respective memorial services. Unbeknownst to him, Rich Williams, NASA’s chief flight surgeon, was observing Leland at every takeoff and landing. Dr. Williams signed a waiver for Leland to fly in space.
Leland has since flown twice in the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist on mission STS-122 (2008) and STS-129 (2009). After his last space mission he led NASA’s education department as its Associate Administrator until he retired in 2014. His official NASA Astronaut portrait went viral for including his dogs.
Prior to joining NASA, Melvin was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 1986 NFL college football draft and later picked up by the Cowboys. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for BWX Technologies and a Director’s Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. For 8 years he was a member of the University of Richmond Board of Trustees and received five Honorary Doctorates for education, science and philanthropy. He is the only person to catch a football both in the National Football League and in space.
Amanda Nguyen: What social change do you want to see in the world?
Leland Melvin: I was 5 months old when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 while growing up in a southern VA town named Lynchburg. I watched the SpaceX crew Dragon launch from NASA Kennedy Space Center days after I watched the life getting snuffed out of George Floyd by a “Peace” Officer. Those two discordant events drew a powerful juxtaposition between technological advancement and pre-civil rights brutality. We are daily watching social change take place as all races, cultures, genders, and people globally protest the barbaric killings of black people. Time will tell if the societal changes brought on by these newly captured acts bring systemic infrastructural change that empower people of color equitably in all sectors. I believe we must empower, educate and teach our children to be inclusive change ambassadors because 400 years has not moved the equity needle much when people are still routinely dying because of their skin color. We must allow kids in all zip codes access and opportunity to learn, grow and rise.
Nguyen: What is the Overview Effect and why is it significant to you?
Melvin: The Overview Effect is the cognitive shift Astronauts feel when you see the enormity and interconnectedness of our blue marble from space. Author Frank White coined the term in his book with the same name. On my first Space Shuttle mission, I thought my technical assignment of installing the multibillion-dollar Columbus Laboratory would be my “aha” moment, but that task paled in comparison to breaking bread with people we used to fight against. We all knew that if we did not work together in space we would perish. I viewed our planet while dining in the International Space Station Russian Zvezda module (translation star) with Asian American, Russian, French, and German astronauts, and the first female Commander orbiting our planet at 17,500 mph every 90 minutes. There were no wars or strife from that vantage point, only a planet in peace. That view shifts your mindset and makes you want to do better, be better - to help inspire the next generation of explorers to be good stewards of our home, Earth, and advance our civilization.
Nguyen: What advice would you give to someone going through a difficult time?
Melvin: Believe in yourself and find out what centers you during the rough times. Find mentors and allies that will have your back no matter what situation arises. It may just be one person. That’s sometimes all you need.
Nguyen: You were the head of NASA education. Why do you think that it is important to educate young girls in STEAM?
Melvin: I witnessed the direct impact that educators, like my parents, can have on a community and on an individual’s destiny. NASA’s people, programs, and resources are unparalleled. Our unique assets are poised to engage students, to captivate their imagination, and to encourage their pursuit of STEAM-related studies that are so vital to their future. I want to help grow the next generation of Mae Jemisons (first African American female Astronaut) or Peggy Whitsons (first female Commander of the ISS). If our girls can see it they can be it and we must showcase and highlight these incredible women in forums like makers.com. I can’t wait until we get to a world where we don’t have to celebrate these first accomplishments because it's the norm. Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math encompass everything that we do on and off this planet. The technical and creative combine to give us symphonies and space stations. We must teach our girls to be multidisciplinary because the best solutions come from the most diverse teams and disciplines.
Nguyen: Who are your role models?
Melvin: My father has always been the main person in my life that had a vision for his family and he acted on it. He was from a small southern town and worked in a dangerous pulp wood plant as a kid to make money for his family before going to school. As an educator he did not make lots of money so he did odd jobs to allow me to take piano, clarinet, and violin lessons because he knew the importance of the cultural arts, music and science. Also Charlie Bolden, who is one of the most decorated Marine Aviators and Astronauts, has always been a champion of education, helping kids see what is possible. He continues to inspire me.
Nguyen: What was it like to have Katherine Johnson be your mentor?
Melvin: Katherine was grace, humility, talent and persistence all combined. When she spoke, people listened - like the EF Hutton commercial from back in the day. Pre- Hidden Figures movie I did not know what Katherine had to endure just to do what she loved, “the calculations” which would get astronauts to space and back safely. She pioneered calculations producing orbital trajectories that got us to the Moon and back. She helped me get to space but I love her most fondly for her passion to inspire and educate young and old kids to see themselves as the next generation of explorers.
Nguyen: What has inspired you during this quarantine period?
Melvin: While in a world of chaos swirling around your television and internet feeds, being able to turn off and look for ways to reinvent myself. Practicing the piano more, walking my dogs more, cooking more, learning more about myself and my place for affecting positive change. I spoke to around 50,000 students over Zoom teaching them about my journey to space and why it is important to work hard and believe in yourself. I usually would travel to give these types of motivational/aspirational talks but now from my laptop I saw the power of the internet for distributing hope and optimism. This time of Covid has reconnected me and confirmed how powerful storytelling can be to inspire.
Follow Leland at lelandmelvin.com @astro_flow on Twitter, @lelandmelvin on Instagram and Facebook. Leland is the Author of Chasing Space: An Astronaut’s Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances
