Chasing Space
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Meet Leland Melvin—football star, NASA astronaut, and professional dream chaser.
In this inspiring memoir, adapted from the adult version, young readers will get to learn about Leland Melvin’s remarkable life story, from being drafted by the Detroit Lions to bravely orbiting our planet in the International Space Station to writing songs with will.i.am, working with Serena Williams, and starring in television shows like The Dog Whisperer and Child Genius.
When his football career was cut short by an injury, Leland didn’t waste time mourning his broken dream. Instead, he found a new one—something that was completely out of this world. And when an accident during astronaut training left him hearing-impaired, he held on to his faith and didn’t give up!
With do-it-yourself experiments in the back of the book and sixteen pages of striking full-color photographs, this is the perfect book to inspire young readers.
Winner, 2019 Grand Canyon Reader Award for Tween Non-Fiction
“Chronicles his unique and inspirational journey . . . The scale of Melvin’s achievement is impressive: he completed graduate-level engineering coursework at night while attending Dallas Cowboys training camp, and he never gave up his pursuit of going into space, even after his hearing was damaged.” —School Library Journal
“In Chasing Space, Leland Melvin tackles stupendous obstacles with dogged determination, showing you what is indeed possible in life—if you believe.” —Neil deGrasse Tyson, author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.
“Chasing Space is a must read—a flight you shouldn’t miss.”—Katherine Johnson, former NASA physicist and mathematician, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
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.
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Reviews for Chasing Space
9 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5As an adult reader, I think I would have prefered the original book, but I think this is a great fit for lots of our middle and high school readers. It's funny, down to earth, and full of details about all of the fascinating parts of Melvin's life. Good for football fans and NASA geeks alike.