Astronaut Honors Late Wife with Moon Crater Name During Record-Breaking Artemis II Flyby
In a raw display of American grit and personal resolve, NASA Commander Reid Wiseman fought back tears as his Artemis II crew proposed naming a lunar crater “Carroll” after his wife, who died of cancer in 2020.
Just one month earlier that same year, Wiseman had buried his mother after her battle with Alzheimer’s. Left to raise their two young daughters alone, he pressed on with quiet strength while training for humanity’s return to the Moon.
During the mission’s dramatic lunar flyby—where the crew shattered Apollo 13’s distance record, reaching over 248,000 miles from Earth—Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen radioed Houston with the tribute.
He described the unnamed crater as a “bright spot” on the Moon, visible from Earth at times, near the near-far side boundary. The crew also proposed naming a nearby crater “Integrity” after their Orion spacecraft.
Wiseman wiped away tears as his crewmates embraced him in the weightless cabin. It was a stark reminder that even at the edge of human exploration, the deepest bonds are forged on Earth.