NASA astronauts are highly visible on the national and even international stage. By training, they’re often pilots, engineers, scientists, doctors, educators – but at home, they’re part of a family. This Mother’s Day, meet two of the women who form the backbone of support behind those iconic cobalt-blue flight suits.
Dionna Glover was loading groceries into her car at the Navy commissary near Washington, D.C., when her husband called to tell her some life-changing news. It was 2013, and Victor Glover had just learned he’d been selected to NASA’s astronaut corps.
She was temporarily sworn to secrecy until the announcement was official, but the gears began turning immediately as she considered the implications and logistics for their family of six.
“On the drive home, a little bit of panic started in,” she said. “Like I always do, I said a prayer, took a deep breath, and after unloading the groceries, I started looking at schools and houses in Houston.”
NASA astronauts are highly visible on the national and even international stage. By training, they’re often pilots, engineers, scientists, doctors, educators – but at home, they’re part of a family. This Mother’s Day, meet two of the women who form the backbone of support behind those iconic cobalt-blue flight suits.
Rebecca Bresnik is the acting associate general counsel leading NASA’s International, Space and National Security Law Group. Her husband, Randy Bresnik, is a NASA astronaut and U.S. Marine test pilot. Married for 20 years, they have a son, Wyatt, and a daughter, Abigail, and recently expanded their family by sponsoring a young, orphaned woman, Katya, from Ukraine. Randy is a veteran of the STS-129 space shuttle mission to the International Space Station and a Soyuz mission with a five-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory in 2017.
Soon after adopting their son from Ukraine, they found out they were expecting Abigail. When Abigail was born in 2009, Randy was in orbit, serving as a mission specialist on his first space mission. It’s an emotional memory for Rebecca, but she was grateful to be able to share Abigail with Randy within hours of her birth via videoconference from the hospital. To celebrate, he donned an “it’s a girl” shirt and shared bubble-gum cigars with his crewmates; Mission Control played “Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle as a special wake-up song chosen by Rebecca.
“Abigail is such a miracle and a gift from God that I never questioned the timing,” she said.
Victor and Dionna Glover have been married for more than two decades and are the proud parents of four daughters: Genesis, Maya, Joia, and Corinne. The family lived in several states and even spent time in Japan as Victor served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy before shifting his focus from the skies to space.
Dionna has been beside him every step of the way. Her background in early childhood development has been helpful as a stay-at-home parent keeping up with four children. Today, she’s also enjoying her role as a health and fitness trainer at her local YMCA.
His first spaceflight, SpaceX Crew-1, included a stay aboard the space station between Nov. 2020 and May 2021.
Despite the length of Victor’s first mission, Dionna found he didn’t feel as far away as she’d anticipated.
“I’d think about him, and he’d call me,” she said. “We had a video teleconference once a week. We’d play games, like ‘zero-g charades.’ NASA’s great at keeping us connected. It felt like he was in California. He felt so close.”
Today, he’s preparing to fly around the Moon as the pilot on Artemis II, part of the first crew to fly aboard the Orion spacecraft.
“I’m thrilled! A two-week mission on Artemis II – that’s fantastic,” Dionna said.
Working for the space agency has helped the Bresniks support each other, as both have a shared passion for NASA’s mission. In fact, Rebecca was the lead attorney for the space station during the time of his Soyuz flight. When the launch shifted five months earlier, she knew about it before he did.
“It was much easier for Randy to break the news to me,” she chuckled. “I am grateful to work with the amazing professionals in the ISS Program, I knew Randy was in great hands throughout his mission.”
She was recently named NASA’s attorney of the year. At the ceremony, she and Randy were reunited with shuttle Atlantis, on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
“Last time we admired Atlantis together 13 years ago, it was in the vertical, days before Randy’s launch and days before Abigail’s birth,” she said. “It was an evening of celebration and wonderful shared memories, and really felt like a full-circle moment.”
With such active lives, these families are intentional about spending time together. Each is planning a getaway this summer. But they also carve out time to spend together on a daily basis, whether it’s attending a child’s school event or squeezing in a walk or bike ride.
“We’re all being tugged,” Dionna said. “If we’re not intentional, we’d look up and realize weeks or months had gone by. We have to create the space and time.”
Today, the Glovers are watching their daughters spread their wings. All four are doing well in school; their eldest two children, Genesis and Maya, have full academic scholarships to universities out of state. At the same time, they’re preparing for Victor’s farthest mission yet.
“I’m over-the-Moon-proud of all of them,” Dionna said.
The Bresniks are currently planning their son’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor, supporting Abigail as she nears achieving her black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and celebrating Katya as she finishes her first year of college in the U.S.
“As working parents, being present and engaged in our children’s lives is only accomplished with a lot of teamwork,” Rebecca said. “We’re excited to contribute to this amazing era of space exploration, but my most important work is that of being a mom.”
