Astronaut’s daughter born as he circles the Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronaut Randolph Bresnik jubilantly welcomed his new daughter into the world Sunday as he floated 220 miles above it.

Abigail Mae Bresnik was born as her father circled Earth on his first space-shuttle mission, just hours after his first spacewalk.

It was only the second time in history that a NASA astronaut was in orbit instead of the delivery room. In 2004, Mike Fincke was in the middle of a six-month space-station mission when his second child, a girl, was born.

“At 11:04 last night, Abigail Mae Bresnik joined the NASA family,” Bresnik announced Sunday morning from the linked space shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station. “Mama and baby are doing very well.”

It was the second child for Randolph and Rebecca Bresnik, who adopted a boy from Ukraine a year ago. Big brother Wyatt is now 31‚Ñ2.

Bresnik, 42, a lieutenant colonel in the Marines and former fighter pilot, thanked everyone at Mission Control and elsewhere for their support, especially during the past few days.

Rebecca Bresnik was due to give birth Friday in Houston. But Saturday morning came without any news as Bresnik ventured out on a six-hour spacewalk, installing antennas and other equipment at the space station.

He specifically asked that he receive no baby updates during the spacewalk, so he could focus on the inherently risky job. When he was safely back inside, he learned his wife had yet to give birth.

As his wife was in labor Saturday evening, Bresnik was connected by the space station’s Internet protocol phone to the NASA flight surgeon at the hospital. Bedtime came, and the spaceman signed off for the night.

Abigail Mae — 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and 20 inches long — finally made her appearance, long after all the astronauts had gone to sleep.