Astronaut Leland Melvin's longest exploration ended where it began.

The Virginia native returned to Earth yesterday aboard the shuttle Atlantis, completing a 5.3 million-mile trip in space that took him 202 times around the globe in 13 days.

The shuttle touched down amid wispy clouds at Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 9:07 a.m., wrapping up a nearly spotless mission highlighted by the delivery of a new space station lab.

The former University of Richmond star wide receiver spoke by phone from the crew quarters at Kennedy.

"The international teamwork was all just so amazing," he said of the shuttle and space station crews, which included French, German, Russian and American astronauts. "I remember one day I was floating from the shuttle over to the [space] station and I went all the way . . . to the service module, and there was someone working in every section" of the space station.

"And at the same time, we're going around the Earth at 17,500 mph looking down with no borders."

Melvin's interest in exploration was sparked, he has said, by family vacations around the country with his parents, retired teachers Deems and Grace Melvin of Lynchburg. As an astronaut in training, his work took him to Russia and Europe.

Melvin was fascinated by the sights of his latest trip, "We saw the [Earth's] aurora. We were flying over Africa [Tuesday] night and saw thunderstorms below. The aurora was so bright and green."

Melvin's family watched his return at Mission Control in Houston.

"Mission Control has these big screens," his sister, Cathy Clarke of Rustburg, told the News & Advance of Lynchburg. "Because we were sitting right behind it . . . we could see what they were tracking as it was coming in," Clarke said. "At a certain point, we were able to see it come through the clouds, and just . . . wow."

Melvin will reunite with his family today in Houston.

The mission launched Feb. 7 after a two-month delay because of troublesome fuel sensors. Atlantis spent nine days at the International Space Station, where astronauts installed the European science lab, Columbus, delivered by the shuttle.

"This was just an unbelievably super mission for us," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations.

Melvin served as the primary operator of the space station's robotic arm on the mission. His main responsibility came early in the mission, when he operated the robotic arm to move the lab module into place.

During some down time Friday evening, Melvin was surprised on his 44th birthday by family and friends who had arranged a party via an audio/video hook-up from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton.

"That was really special," Melvin said. "It was like, wow, what are you guys doing there?"

In addition to Melvin, the STS-122 mission crew included commander Steve Frick, pilot Alan Poindexter and mission specialists Rex Walheim and Stan Love and European astronauts Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts.

Eyharts remained behind on the orbiting outpost to assist in bringing the Columbus lab online. He replaced NASA's Dan Tani, who returned home aboard Atlantis after four months in space.

Melvin was a chemistry major who played football at UR. After a short, injury-plagued career in the National Football League, he joined the Langley Research Center and earned a master's degree from the University of Virginia.

He was assigned to the STS-122 mission in 2006.

Despite its troubled start, Atlantis' flight was relatively free of problems and was extended by two days so astronauts could complete more work on the new science module.
Contact A.J. Hostetler at (804) 649-6355 or ahostetler@timesdispatch.com.