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Leland D. Melvin

American - (NASA)

Retired

Date of Birth: Feb. 15, 1964
Age: 60


Leland Devon Melvin is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. He served on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist on STS-122, and as mission specialist 1 on STS-129. Melvin was named the NASA Associate Administrator for Education in October 2010.

Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-122

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Feb. 7, 2008, 7:45 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS), flown by the Space Shuttle Atlantis. STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st space shuttle flight overall. The mission was also referred to as ISS-1E by the ISS program. The primary objective of STS-122 was to deliver the European Columbus science laboratory, built by the European Space Agency (ESA), to the station. It also returned Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani to Earth. Tani was replaced on Expedition 16 by Léopold Eyharts, a French Flight Engineer representing ESA. After Atlantis' landing, the orbiter was prepared for STS-125, the final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Low Earth Orbit
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Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-129

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Nov. 16, 2009, 7:28 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-129 (ISS assembly flight ULF3) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Atlantis. STS-129 focused on staging spare components outside the station. The 11-day flight included three spacewalks. The payload bay carried two large ExPRESS Logistics Carriers holding two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly, a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm, a spare trailing umbilical system for the Mobile Transporter, and a high-pressure gas tank. STS-129 was the first flight of an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier.

Low Earth Orbit
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Administrator: Bill Nelson

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


Long March 6A
Success
1 day, 4 hours ago
Tianhui 5 Group 02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A pair of satellites officially described as for cartographic surveying purposes, details TBD.


Firefly Alpha
Success
1 day, 23 hours ago
FLTA005 (Noise of Summer)
Space Launch Complex 2W - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fifth flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying eight cubesats for NASA's ELaNa 43 (Educational Launch of a Nanosatellite) mission.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 18 hours ago
Starlink Group 8-9
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H3-22
Success
5 days ago
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) is a Japanese satellite designed to observe the Earth's surface using a phased array type L-band syn…


Long March 7A
Success
6 days, 15 hours ago
ChinaSat 3A
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese communication geostationary satellite for unknown purposes.