Astronaut Snuck in His Two Dogs While Taking Official NASA Portrait

In 2009, astronaut Leland Melvin was photographed for his official NASA portrait. But instead of it just being of him, he brought along his two rescue dogs named Jake and Scout. The endearing images that followed show that while the canines can behave when they want, sometimes they just can't contain their excitement. One photo features the dogs sitting calmly at Melvin's side, while the other shows them standing in his lap and licking his face.

Melvin tweeted that he snuck the dogs into the NASA photo studio on the day of the shoot. He still uses the sillier of the two portraits for his Twitter profile picture, but NASA has a dogless photo (below) in his official astronaut biography.

Leland Melvin website
via [Laughing Squidand PetaPixel]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
Become a
My Modern Met Member
As a member, you'll join us in our effort to support the arts.
Become a Member
Explore member benefits

Sponsored Content