Within minutes of the Artemis II crew setting the spaceflight record for the farthest humans have gone from Earth, they shared a tender moment. Suggesting a crater on the Moon be named after mission commander Reid Wiseman‘s wife, who succumbed to cancer in 2020.
The naming proposal came right after the mission surpassed Apollo 13’s distance record. It happened during their lunar flyby on April 6, broadcast live on NASA’s channels.
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed mission control to tell them the crew wanted to “honor their mission by naming two craters on the moon.” His voice cracked as he delivered the tribute. Hansen said, “We lost a loved one, her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katey and Ellie.” Calling the crater “a bright spot on the moon.”
After Hansen read the tribute, the group wrapped their arms around each other as they floated in zero gravity. Wiseman and Christina Koch were both wiping tears from their eyes. Mission control observed 45 seconds of silence. They then responded: “Integrity and Carroll Crater, loud and clear.”
The Carroll crater sits near the boundary between the moon’s near and far sides. This means it will occasionally be visible from Earth. The crew also named a separate crater “Integrity,” after their Orion spacecraft.
Carroll Taylor Wiseman
According to her obituary in the Virginian-Pilot, “Carroll Taylor Wiseman, 46, passed away May 17 in Friendswood, Texas following a five year battle with cancer.” She was a pediatric nurse practitioner who “dedicated her life to helping others as a newborn intensive care unit Registered Nurse.”
In 2023, three years after Carroll’s death, Wiseman was chosen as the commander for the Artemis II mission. The first crewed flight to the moon in over half a century. The Wisemans have two daughters, Ellie and Katherine. Wiseman has called being a single parent one of the “greatest” challenges of his life, but also “the most rewarding phase.”
Astronauts have proposed lunar names before. Jim Lovell named a triangular mountain “Mount Marilyn” after his wife during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
The act of naming a moon feature for a dearly departed is similar to the fictional ‘Rocky Crater’, from Project Hail Mary. Where the main character pays tribute to a missing comrade in the heavens.
The proposal to name the crater Carroll will be formally submitted to the International Astronomical Union. An organization that governs the naming of celestial bodies, after the Artemis II mission ends.
After 10 days in space, the crew is set to return to Earth on Friday, splashing down off San Diego.
