Lynchburg astronaut Leland Melvin heading back to space
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Joe Macenka
Media General News Service
Published: October 2, 2008
University of Richmond graduate and Lynchburg native Leland Melvin is going back into the stratosphere.
Melvin is one of two Virginia natives NASA has assigned to the crew of the space shuttle Discovery’s planned mission for October 2009. The flight will deliver parts to the International Space Station, including two spare gyroscopes, and the mission will feature four spacewalks.
Melvin, whose first space flight came as a mission specialist on the shuttle Atlantis in February, was selected as an astronaut in 1998.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Richmond and a master’s degree in materials science engineering from the University of Virginia.
Melvin, who was the featured speaker at Richmond’s 178th commencement ceremony in May, will once again serve as a mission specialist on the shuttle flight.
Another mission specialist will be fellow Virginia native Robert Satcher, who will be making his first space flight after being selected as an astronaut in 2004.
Satcher, a native of Hampton, earned a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a graduate of Harvard Medical School.
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