Saturday was National Pet Day, but for astronaut Leland Devon Melvin every day is a day for pets–even the day he was scheduled to sit for his official NASA portrait. He insisted on including his two furry babies in the photo.

An engineer, athlete, and mission specialist several times over, Melvin is also a proud pup papa, and he wants the entire universe to know it.

Melvin played for the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys before an injury led him to change career paths. He then went partially deaf after an underwater training exercise, but pushed on to fly missions on the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Later he became head of NASA education, and served as co-chair of the White House Education Task Force.

While all of these accomplishments are astronomically amazing, being a dad to dogs Jake and Scout, seems to be at the top of the list.

Does this mean they're officially stars? Affirmative.

Over and out.