My Monday Morning: Randy Bresnik

Randy Bresnik (0:08)

I'm Randy Bresnik, and this is My Monday Morning.

Lane Floresheim (0:17)

Astronaut Randy Bresnik is leading NASA's Artemis III mission into space next year. He's a retired Marine Colonel and has been to space two times before. His daughter was born on the day he first walked in space in 2009

Artemis III will build off of the huge success of Artemis II earlier this year, and Randy will lead a crew of astronauts, Andre Douglas, Luca Parmitano, and Frank Rubio on board the Orion spaceship next year. And NASA's ultimate goal with these missions is getting humans back on the moon. For his Monday Morning, Randy told me what it's like to wake up in space, and why it's the best sleep he's ever had. I'm Lane Floresheim, and that's coming up after the break.

SPEAKER_3 (1:08)

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Lane Floresheim (2:10)

I've interviewed a lot of people for this and never an astronaut, so I can't wait to hear about your routines and how you start the week.

Randy Bresnik (2:17)

I'm happy to meet you, Lane, and looking forward to the conversation.

Lane Floresheim (2:20)

We ask about routines in this show, and I think that a lot of people are going to be really interested to hear about the routine of a NASA astronaut and how you start your week, especially as you're prepping for this big mission. So I was wondering, what does a Monday Morning look like for you?

Randy Bresnik (2:37)

Well, here on Earth, before the mission, my preparation starts a little bit Sunday, making sure I know what I'm doing on Monday. I've got either the gear, the uniforms, food, whatever it is I need, ready to go. So getting up Monday morning, doing my five most important things. And this is my Monday morning five must haves. First is wake up and give my wife a kiss and say good morning. Number two, give my daughter a hug when she comes downstairs and gets ready to go to school. Number three, pet my dog, Sky. Number four, feed my dog, Sky.

And then sit and have a quiet moment as I have breakfast and thank God for another day. The neat thing about this job as an astronaut is it varies every single day, every single week. Training goes from being in a simulator that has computer screens or integrated with mission control to being in a simulator that's more of a mock-up, where we're actually in our spacesuits, and we're in the vehicle, we're actually on our backs as if we're taking off or landing. And even just yesterday, we were in our spacesuits doing egress if we had to get out quickly on the ground, over the water. Or it is actually taking a class on particular, you know, guidance or navigation type of thing, or learning about our science experiments, or learning how to, you know, take my own blood samples.

It is such a neat, wide variety of stuff. It's never boring. It's always challenging. You're always learning something. Everybody feels a belonging. They feel that they are contributing, and that's what drives us all.

Lane Floresheim (4:11)

I mean, that sounds so special. To go back a little bit into the morning, do you have a go-to breakfast that you like to eat?

Are you a coffee drinker?

Randy Bresnik (4:22)

I don't drink coffee or tea, so my morning breakfast is, you know, a breakfast shake. I've been doing that since, literally since I was in high school. And then it's off to the work.

Most days I try and get to the gym before I get to work, so that way I can just, you know, get the best part of the day started off at the beginning. And then, you know, I see people before leaving the gym, getting ready to head to the office, like, okay, the best part of the day is over now.