 My name is Leland Melvin, a former astronaut, now working to help inspire the next generation of explorers. My parents exposed me to so many things as a child, from sports to creating Lego blocks to building campers to music. I give most of my props to my dad. He was my mentor. He was my hero. It just really, really helped a lot. Sports was a really big part of my life. So this is a picture of me catching or dropping a touchdown pass in the end zone at my homecoming game, when there was a scout from the University of Richmond looking at me drop this pass and started walking out of the stadium, but he heard the crowd screaming the second time. My coach believed in me, gave me another chance to catch the winning touchdown pass, and that one pass resulted in a full scholarship to the University of Richmond. I was finishing my master's degree at the University of Virginia, and I went to a career fair, and a woman at the NASA booth said, hey, you need to come work for NASA. I'm like, no, I'm not going to work for NASA. And she just convinced me that I need to come down and check it out, so I went down and looked at it and said, this is pretty cool. I worked at NASA for about, I think about seven or eight years, and a friend of mine who wanted to be an astronaut said, Leland, you'd be a great astronaut. I'm like, what are you talking about? I mean, you know, me, astronaut? And that same year, my boy Charlie Camarda, he got in. Then I saw what he was doing. It was flying jets, he was inspiring kids, he was going to be flying in space one day, and I said, wow, that's the ultimate gig. And so I applied the next year and I got in, and it was just incredible. To train on the ground, you go down into a pool that's about 30 feet deep. Well, they started letting me down, I realized that this little styrofoam pad was not in my helmet. They forgot to put mine in. So I asked the test director to turn the volume up in the headset, and from that point on, I heard nothing but static. I went deaf. The doctors from around the world, no one knew what happened to me. Slowly, it started getting better, hearing came back, still hearing impaired, and this year, I went to Washington to work in education, and that's when we lost Space Shuttle Columbia. Seven of my friends were in Space Shuttle Columbia that broke up coming over the Texas sky. One of the mission specialists was David Brown, but I went to his parents' home the night of the accident to console them. His father said to me with tears in his eyes, he said, Leland, the biggest tragedy would be if we don't continue to fly in space, to carry on their legacy. Now at this point, I'm not flying because they've told me I'm medically disqualified, but as we fly around the country to go to the different memorial services, the chief flight surgeon, Rich Williams, he says, I'm going to sign you a waiver to fly. This will be your testimony to the world. And today with that, you are cleared to launch the landing. Copy, cleared to launch. It's 17,500 miles per hour, going around the planet every 90 minutes. Nothing can prepare you for the views that you'll see from the space station. I mean, it's, the colors are just so vibrant. Just looking down at the planet and looking deep into the heavens and the stars and the planets, it's just, it's just so stunning. Connecting the dots with building, creating, doing the robotics, doing the space, I never really synthesized all those activities to a final job or final goal. Sometimes when you don't believe in yourself, other people do and they give you a second chance. And I think that's been a theme through my life, you know, giving, being given a second chance. And now I'm helping inspire the next generation of explorers. My name is Leland Melman and this is my story.
 My name is Leland Melvin, a former astronaut, now working to help inspire the next generation of explorers.
 My parents exposed me to so many things as a child, from sports to creating Lego blocks to building campers to music.
 I give most of my props to my dad. He was my mentor. He was my hero. It just really, really helped a lot.
 Sports was a really big part of my life.
 So this is a picture of me catching or dropping a touchdown pass in the end zone at my homecoming game,
 when there was a scout from the University of Richmond looking at me drop this pass and started walking out of the stadium, but he heard the crowd screaming the second time.
 My coach believed in me, gave me another chance to catch the winning touchdown pass, and that one pass resulted in a full scholarship to the University of Richmond.
 I was finishing my master's degree at the University of Virginia, and I went to a career fair, and a woman at the NASA booth said,
 hey, you need to come work for NASA. I'm like, no, I'm not going to work for NASA.
 And she just convinced me that I need to come down and check it out, so I went down and looked at it and said, this is pretty cool.
 I worked at NASA for about, I think about seven or eight years, and a friend of mine who wanted to be an astronaut said,
 Leland, you'd be a great astronaut. I'm like, what are you talking about? I mean, you know, me, astronaut?
 And that same year, my boy Charlie Camarda, he got in. Then I saw what he was doing. It was flying jets, he was inspiring kids,
 he was going to be flying in space one day, and I said, wow, that's the ultimate gig.
 And so I applied the next year and I got in, and it was just incredible.
 To train on the ground, you go down into a pool that's about 30 feet deep.
 Well, they started letting me down, I realized that this little styrofoam pad was not in my helmet.
 They forgot to put mine in. So I asked the test director to turn the volume up in the headset, and from that point on, I heard nothing but static.
 I went deaf. The doctors from around the world, no one knew what happened to me.
 Slowly, it started getting better, hearing came back, still hearing impaired, and this year, I went to Washington to work in education,
 and that's when we lost Space Shuttle Columbia.
 Seven of my friends were in Space Shuttle Columbia that broke up coming over the Texas sky.
 One of the mission specialists was David Brown, but I went to his parents' home the night of the accident to console them.
 His father said to me with tears in his eyes, he said, Leland, the biggest tragedy would be if we don't continue to fly in space, to carry on their legacy.
 Now at this point, I'm not flying because they've told me I'm medically disqualified,
 but as we fly around the country to go to the different memorial services, the chief flight surgeon, Rich Williams, he says, I'm going to sign you a waiver to fly.
 This will be your testimony to the world.
 And today with that, you are cleared to launch the landing.
 Copy, cleared to launch.
 It's 17,500 miles per hour, going around the planet every 90 minutes.
 Nothing can prepare you for the views that you'll see from the space station.
 I mean, it's, the colors are just so vibrant.
 Just looking down at the planet and looking deep into the heavens and the stars and the planets, it's just, it's just so stunning.
 Connecting the dots with building, creating, doing the robotics, doing the space,
 I never really synthesized all those activities to a final job or final goal.
 Sometimes when you don't believe in yourself, other people do and they give you a second chance.
 And I think that's been a theme through my life, you know, giving, being given a second chance.
 And now I'm helping inspire the next generation of explorers.
 My name is Leland Melman and this is my story.