Family is family.

Pictured above is Astronaut Leland D. Melvin’s official NASA portrait.

When NASA astronaut Leland Melvin was assigned to a space shuttle mission in 2008, he was told he could bring his family for the official photo shoot wearing the famous orange “pumpkin suit.”

They didn’t say two-legged or four-legged, and although dogs are not allwed on base at NASA, family is family.

So, Melvin brought his rescue dogs Jake and Scout along with a neighbor to hold them and keep hem quiet in the back of his van. “I got to the guard shack, flashed my badge, and I gunned the van and drove to the photo lab,” Melvin said.

He then went up the back stairs where the photographer was waiting, went into the photo lab with 100 MilkBones to keep the dogs busy while he changed into the suit and came out.

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