Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances

Written by Leland Melvin

Narrated by Ron Butler

In this moving, inspirational memoir, a former NASA astronaut and NFL wide receiver shares his personal journey from the gridiron to the stars, examining the intersecting roles of community, perseverance and grace that align to create the opportunities for success.

Leland Melvin is the only person in human history to catch a pass in the National Football League and in space. Though his path from the gridiron to the heavens was riddled with setbacks and injury, Leland persevered to reach the stars.

While training with NASA, Melvin suffered a severe injury that left him deaf. Leland was relegated to earthbound assignments, but chose to remain and support his astronaut family. His loyalty paid off. Recovering partial hearing, he earned his eligibility for space travel. He served as mission specialist for two flights aboard the shuttle Atlantis, working on the International Space Station.

In this inspirational memoir, the former NASA astronaut and professional athlete offers an examination of the intersecting role of community, perseverance, and grace that align to shape our opportunities and outcomes. Chasing Space is not the story of one man, but the story of many men, women, scientists, and mentors who helped him defy the odds and live out an uncommon destiny.

As a chemist, athlete, engineer and space traveler, Leland’s life story is a study in the science of achievement. His personal insights illuminate how grit and grace, are the keys to overcoming adversity and rising to success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062675071

Leland Melvin

A former wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, Leland Melvin is an engineer and NASA astronaut. He served on the space shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist and was named the NASA Associate Administrator for Education in October 2010. He also served as the cochair on the White House’s Federal Coordination in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Task Force, developing the nation’s five-year STEM education plan. He is the host of the Lifetime show Child Genius and a judge for ABC’s BattleBots. He holds four honorary doctorates and has received the NFL Player Association Award of Excellence. He lives in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Reviews for Chasing Space

[James Howat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting life. Great American tale of hard work and dedication paying off when trying to achieve big things. Quick and easy listen.

[Titilope' Osisanlu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome book, highly recommend for all ages. It appeals to my childhood fantasies of being an astronaut as well as my adult curiosity of what the reality of it is. Leland Melvin seems like a great guy that you would love to meet in person.

[Kim Patrice · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing, such an intimate look at Mr. Melvin’s life and journey.

[darcie anderson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really great book and well narrated. Telling the story of an amazing career. Some sections sounded a little like he was reading off a cover letter at the end, but I guess that is because he has done so many things that he can't talk about them all at length! Nothing felt drawn out or unnecessary and the narration was excellent

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was really excited to read this book. It didn't hold my attention the way I expected it to, though. I would rate it between a 3.5 and 4, honestly. Another reviewer called his writing style "mechanical" and I agree to an extent. It seemed very formulaic, and over-detailed in areas that a reader of this book might not have any interest in. While all aspects of his life led to him becoming an astronaut and are therefore relevant, we did not really need the amount of time and detail he provided in many sections.

He seems to be a really likable fellow.

[darthdeverell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In Chasing Space: An Astronaut’s Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances, Leland Melvin describes his life experiences from growing up in Virginia, through high school and college football, studying science, and finally his career with NASA, which included two Shuttle flights to the International Space Station. Throughout his account, Melvin describes how he overcame obstacles through hard work and perseverance, in particular the power of visualizing success in advance. When he made mistakes on the gridiron or in college or even suffered a loss of hearing during astronaut training, Melvin overcame these setbacks by continuing to dedicate himself to his work. Further, he believes in the importance of inspiring children to pursue their dreams and to encourage their creativity, both in the arts and sciences, in order that they can become the thinkers and dreamers who will shape the next big developments in the coming decades. Melvin’s book is honest and touching, with his generosity of spirit and sense of hope shining through on every page. A must-read for those seeking some inspiration.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Leland Melvin has led a pretty amazing life. After a short stint in the NFL, he worked as an engineer for NASA, then as an astronaut. During his training, an accident that badly damaged his hearing threatened to ground him permanently, but eventually he recovered and went on to make two flights on the space shuttle. After that, he became NASA's Associate Administrator for Education, and spent a lot of time working to provide opportunities and encouragement for disadvantaged and minority kids to pursue success in STEM.

All that having been said, I do have to be honest here and say that this isn't exactly the most gripping astronaut memoir I've ever read. Some of that is no doubt due to the fact that he spends comparatively few pages talking about actually being in space. Some of it probably has more to do with me than with the author, though. Unlike Melvin, who perfectly straddles the classic jock/nerd divide, I am apparently incapable of being interested in football even when there is a connection to the space program. Also, Melvin's reflections on the reasons for his success and his attempts to inspire others center very firmly on two things: "grit and determination," and the power of his Christian faith. As an atheist, myself, that second thing can't help but fall a little flat for me.

But there is certainly no doubt that the grit and determination have served him well. How many people could possibly ever say things like, "Oh, my NFL career didn't last? No problem! Fortunately, while training to play professional football, I also somehow found time to get a graduate degree in engineering, so I guess I'll just go work for NASA instead!" Not that he puts it that way, I hasten to add. He's much more modest than that. Plus, he actually didn't even think about working for NASA until a recruiter approached him about it at a job fair. But, still. Leland Melvin is definitely the kind of person who makes you wonder what the heck you've been doing with your own life.

Also, gripping or not, this memoir provides a perspective none of the other astronaut memoirs I've read so far have. Because they've all been written by white guys, none of whom have had anything like the experiences Melvin had growing up in Virginia as an African American, attending a school that had only recently been racially integrated, dealing with everyday racism, and not exactly having the opportunity to see many people who looked like him going into space. All of which gives him a very keen appreciation of those before him who broke racial barriers to make important contributions the the space program, as well as of the importance of enabling the next generation of kids to go further.

[dele2451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Melvin's distinguished accomplishments are numerous, very significant, inspiring, and well worth learning about. While his intellect, personal and physical strengths, dedication, academic/professional career accomplishments, and tireless community involvement are truly outstanding, his actual writing is a little mechanical (very understandable given that he is an engineer/scientist). I sincerely enjoyed reading about this fine astronaut and enthusiastically recommend "Chasing Space" for the valuable information it contains but, should Leland Melvin ever pursue the opportunity to publish another book about his incredible life, I'd recommend he hire a biographer who is as accomplished as he is to really launch it to the heights his achievements warrant.