Leland Melvin readies for second space flight Monday

The first Lynchburg astronaut to go up in space is about to experience the second trip of a lifetime.

Leland Melvin, a 1982 Heritage High School graduate, is set to launch in the Space Shuttle Atlantis at 2:28 p.m. Monday. His first trip, also on the Atlantis, was in February 2008.

“He did such an excellent job last time,” said his sister, Cathy Melvin Clarke, of Lynchburg. “Everything was precise. I think, because of that, he was asked to come back.

“He deserves it. He works hard.”

For Melvin, it’s another milestone in a life full of them.

After graduating from the University of Richmond, where he majored in chemistry and played on the football team, he was signed by the Detroit Lions in the 11th round of the 1986 NFL draft and, later, the Dallas Cowboys.

A hamstring injury eventually sidelined him for good, so Melvin went back to school and earned his master’s in materials science engineering at the University of Virginia, which led to a job with NASA.

He joined the astronaut corps in 1998 and is now the manager of NASA’s Educator Astronaut Program, which has him traveling all over the country to talk to students about space exploration.

During his last excursion into space, Melvin and the Atlantis crew delivered the European Space Agency’s Columbus labo-ratory to the International Space Station. As a mission specialist, Melvin’s job was to operate a 58-foot robotic arm to attach the lab to the station.

This time around, the crew is delivering 14 tons of spare parts for the International Space Sta-tion’s electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, communications and robotics systems, plus additional equipment, supplies and scientific experiments.

The 11-day flight will include three spacewalks. It will also return space station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth, making it the final space shuttle crew rotation flight. Atlantis’ mission is one of six remaining before NASA is supposed to finish construction on the station and retire the shuttle fleet.

Melvin will once again operate the robotic arm, which will assist the astronauts as they transfer the spare parts from the shuttle to the station and install two platforms to hold them.

Even more exciting?

Melvin has been updating his Twitter page throughout the preparation process and will continue to do so from space.

“We go on lockdown tonight but I'm trying to hold back the excitement until game day a week from now,” he wrote on Nov. 9, as the six-member team entered quarantine.

They flew from Houston’s Johnson Space Center to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Thursday, the same day Clarke, Melvin’s only sibling, and the rest of the family — including parents Grace and Deems — drove down from Lynchburg.

Clarke said their emotions haven’t changed much since the last time they saw Melvin head to space.

“I have a confidence, an inner peace,” she said. “We know that this is a divine appointment, and he’s been blessed by this opportunity.

“It’s all about making special memories. No big stress. Just enjoying the time.”