It's not what we'd expect from an official NASA portrait: That's astronaut Leland Melvin who snuck his dogs, Scout and Jake, into the studio with him when he had his photo taken.
Journalist Adam Aton tweeted the photo Wednesday, and commenters have been loving the image, calling Melvin the "best astronaut ever" and "a national treasure."
The dogs actually made an appearance in more than one photo. Here's another where Jake and Scout are sitting pretty for the camera.
Unfortunately, it looks like NASA cropped the dogs out of Melvin's official photo on the website. Bummer.
ABC's Dan Harris provided some backstory on the pups — and, oh yeah, on Melvin, too.
"One: Those dogs are strays that he adopted after they wandered into his backyard. And two: Being an astronaut and going to space was actually his backup plan after he was drafted into the NFL and had to pull out because of injuries," Harris said.
The NFL's loss was NASA's gain. Melvin began working in the space program's research department in 1989.
Almost 10 years later, Melvin began training to go into space. He's been to the International Space Station twice, once in 2008 and another trip a year later.
He's logged 565 hours in space, but even Melvin himself wouldn't have predicted that in his youth.
"I never really thought about the space program. ... I loved math and science but never really saw people who looked like me, saw space as an option. Didn't have a military crew cut," Melvin said.
With all the attention the photos have been getting, maybe NASA will have some fun and change Melvin's photo on the website. It's just one small step, right?
This video includes photos from NASA.
