Randy Bresnik, commander of the Artemis 3 mission

The upcoming Artemis 3 mission, slated for next year, is poised to be one of the most intricate space expeditions ever undertaken. It will feature the simultaneous launch of three large rockets and three space capsules that will rendezvous and dock while orbiting Earth. Notably, the commercial spacecraft required for this mission are not yet constructed.

Leading this ambitious endeavor is veteran NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik. Bresnik maintains a strong connection to Slovenia, as his great-grandparents hailed from Luče and Ljubno, prompting him to visit the country with his family regularly. While the recent Artemis 2 mission successfully completed a ten-day journey around the Moon, Artemis 3, though not traveling as far, presents significantly greater technical challenges.

"We are responsible for the mission that will follow the one where we will step on the lunar surface for the first time since December 1972," Bresnik, 58, emphasized. NASA's goal is to land on the Moon's south pole by 2028. Bresnik described the mission's complexity as a "choreography" requiring precise timing and technical coordination, acknowledging that spaceflight is inherently demanding and involves pioneering new procedures.

Bresnik, selected as an astronaut in 2004, has a distinguished career as a test pilot with over 7,000 flight hours in 95 aircraft. His spaceflight experience includes an eleven-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis in November 2009 and a six-month stay on the International Space Station in 2017. Since August 2018, he has served as the deputy chief of the astronaut office at NASA, overseeing the development and testing of Artemis mission vehicles. He noted that if the commercial spacecraft are not ready, the mission will adapt.

Bresnik has visited Slovenia multiple times, sharing his family's heritage and promoting the Artemis program. He has connected with local communities and officials, even carrying flags from his ancestral towns into space and sharing photos of Slovenian landscapes from orbit. His family history in Slovenia includes his great-grandmother, Kristina Šlosarjeva, from Ljubno, who married Ivan in the US in 1910.