My Monday Morning: Randy Bresnik

The Journal.

In this episode of The Journal's My Monday Morning series, NASA astronaut and Artemis III mission commander Randy Bresnik discusses his preparation for leading the next lunar mission

Key takeaways

• Randy Bresnik will command Artemis III next year aboard the Orion spacecraft with a diverse international crew focused on lunar landing preparations.
• Sleeping in microgravity involves zipping into a tethered sleeping bag, which Bresnik calls his most comfortable sleep ever due to zero pressure points on the body.

Main topics

• Artemis III mission objectives
• Daily routines and sleep in zero gravity

Notable quotes

"Taking care of your people. It's that simple."

Conclusion

Bresnik's grounded perspective demystifies deep-space exploration by focusing on

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:08) I'm Randy Bresnik, and this is my Monday Morning. Speaker 2 (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 Florsheim, and that's coming up after the break. Speaker 3 (1:09) 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. Speaker 1 (1:16) I'm happy to meet you, Lane, and looking forward to the conversation. Speaker 3 (1:20) 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? Speaker 1 (1:36) Well, here on Earth, before the mission, my preparation starts a little bit Sunday, making sure I know what I'm doing on Monday. Because I've got either the gear, the uniforms, food, whatever it is I need, ready to go. I get 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 Skye. Number four, feed my dog Skye. And then sit and have a quiet moment as I have breakfast and thank God for another day. The neat thing about this Jobs National Act is it varies every single day, every single week. You know, 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 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. Speaker 3 (3:11) 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? Speaker 1 (3:21) I don't drink coffee or tea, so my morning breakfast is a breakfast shake. I've been doing that literally since I was in high school. 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. I get the best part of the day started off at the beginning. And then I see people, and if we're leaving the gym, getting ready to head into the office, I'm like, OK, the best part of the day is over now. But we go into the work and do all the exciting stuff that has to do with learning or making the space program work, supporting people that are in space right now. Sometimes that can go later than normal hours. But we try to keep most work to between the 8 to 5 hours on Monday to Friday. Speaker 3 (4:03) How do these routines change when you're in space? How does going to sleep and waking up work in space? Do you