Spacers

It's A Space Girl!

Congratulations to Space Shuttle Astronaut Randy Bresnik, currently on the STS-129 mission docked to the ISS - his wife Rebecca gave birth to their daughter Abigail in Houston while he orbited the Earth. Weighing in a six pounds and thirteen ounces, Abigail Mae Bresnik entered the world on Sadturday night at 11:04pm local time. Smoking is prohibited on-orbit for safety reasons, so the crew helped celebrate the event with bubblegum cigars.


On the very same day he was due to venture into space on his first ever spacewalk, Bresnik chatted with his wife while she was in labor before heading out to complete the second spacewalk of the STS-129 mission. Adamant that he did not want any updates while he was out in space, Randy learned of the birth early Sunday morning when his wife called to give him the news.

Whilst not the first birth with a parent in space, Bresnik is disappointed nonetheless that he missed being present at the event. Atlantis is due to land in Florida on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, so he won't need to wait too long before getting to meet his new family member. Astronaut Michael Fincke and his wife Renita hold the honor of the first birth with a parent in space, but since Michael was on a long duration mission to the ISS at the time, he had to wait four agonizing months before returning to Earth to meet his daughter.

STS-129 is set to undock from the ISS early Wednesday morning.

SpaceHead