Astronaut shares story with cadets

CHARLESTON -- Marine Lt. Col. Randy Bresnik had practiced space walking for hours in a giant swimming pool. He was mission ready.

Then came the real thing, the moment when his boots were the only thing between him and the planet he called home.

"The earth is just absolutely astounding. You can't imagine the beauty that you see," he said.

Bresnik shared his amazing story at a leadership symposium Friday inside Mark Clark Hall at The Citadel.

He had a rare privilege. Less than half of the elite NASA astronaut corps set foot outside a spacecraft. Bresnik ventured into a dark vacuum where the temperature was 250 degrees below zero. A few moments later, the sun came up.

"It stopped me in my tracks," he said. "I was just awestruck."

Bresnik flew in space in November 2009 as part of the shuttle Atlantis' journey to the International Space Station. Blast-off was an eight-minute ride-of-a-lifetime at 13 times the speed of sound. Not bad for a California kid who had never been east of the Mississippi River until he arrived at The Citadel in 1985 as a scholarship student.

"God had a great plan. I never thought at that time He would lead me to this. I still look back in utter amazement. I could not be more blessed," Bresnik said.

The Citadel laid a foundation for his success as a Topgun aviator and test pilot, a flight instructor, and tours of combat duty in Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He gained admission to the elite NASA astronaut corps in 2004.

But nothing fully prepared him for the emotional effect of serving on Atlantis. He was orbiting the earth every 90 minutes and watching a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. No IMAX, no 3-D theater comes close to seeing the curvature of the planet in person, he said.

"It's hard to grasp the enormity. You could just sit there all day watching the earth going by. It's hard not to be distracted," he said.

His wife, Rebecca, a NASA attorney, gave birth to their daughter, Abigail, while he was orbiting the earth for more than a week. He shared bubble gum cigars with the crew in celebration.

During Bresnik's presentation, he showed videos of life aboard shuttle Atlantis. Clowning for the camera, he did a double-front flip with ease. He floated in front of the camera carrying a 200-pound object like it was little more than a box of cereal. He sailed merrily through hatchways using his arms for propulsion and his feet to grab stuff that he pulled along behind him. He gobbled a ball of beverage that was suspended in front of him.

"Velcro is what runs the space program," he joked, referring to the effects of zero gravity.

On a more serious note, Bresnik, 43, said that leadership is an art; it is fluid and creative. He learned leadership at The Citadel.

"It's really easy to follow people who are good leaders. There were people that I had a hard time following because of the style of leadership and the way they treated people," he said.

Leadership involves humility, too. The six astronauts got a lot of attention but they were beneficiaries of the work of thousands, he said. The space shuttle blast off required about 4 million moving parts to work as planned.

"You're just one tiny piece of the space program," he said.

Bresnik gave Citadel officials a variety of school-related objects that he carried into space. They included a Citadel alumni sticker, a ball cap, a T-shirt and a replica of "Big Red," the Citadel's flag, which Bresnik called "Space Red," noting that the flag had flown 4.5 million miles in orbit.

The original Big Red arrived back at the school recently after nearly 150 years and was unveiled Friday at the Holliday Alumni Center. The Civil War-era battle banner is believed to be the one that flew over Morris Island when Citadel cadets fired on the supply ship Star of the West.

After his presentation, Bresnik discussed NASA's decision to phase out the shuttle program.

"The design has its risks. The time has come to where we need to move on to the next vehicle," he said.

Bresnik is looking forward to that exciting next chapter of space travel.

"You never know where life will take you," he said.