In a poignant development during the Artemis II mission, astronaut Reid Wiseman and his crew have proposed naming a Moon crater ‘Carroll’ in memory of Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who passed away from cancer in 2020 at the age of 46. The mission, which lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, 2026, is set to make history as it pushes the boundaries of human space travel.
The Artemis II crew, which includes Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, is expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego, California, on April 10, 2026. During the mission, they will come within 4,070 miles of the Moon’s surface, surpassing the Apollo 13 mission milestone for the farthest humans have traveled from Earth.
The crater ‘Carroll’ is located near Glushko on the Moon’s surface, and the crew also named another crater ‘Integrity’ after the Orion spacecraft. These names will be submitted to the International Astronomical Union for approval.
As the crew prepares for their mission, they will witness a solar eclipse, adding to the significance of their journey. “We lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie,” Hansen stated during a live broadcast, highlighting the emotional weight of the crater naming.
NASA emphasized the importance of the name ‘Integrity’, stating it embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew and the many engineers and scientists involved in the mission. The emotional moment was broadcast live across NASA’s channels, resonating with viewers worldwide.
The Artemis II mission represents a significant step in NASA’s goals for deep space exploration, aiming to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon and eventually pave the way for future missions to Mars. As the crew undergoes post-flight medical evaluations after returning to Earth, their journey will undoubtedly leave a lasting legacy.
Details remain unconfirmed regarding any further developments in the mission, but the naming of the craters serves as a powerful reminder of personal connections in the face of groundbreaking scientific endeavors.