In a deeply emotional moment that blended humanity, exploration, and remembrance during NASA’s historic Artemis II lunar flyby mission, the four-person crew announced a heartfelt proposal Monday to name a prominent lunar crater after mission commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who lost her battle with cancer in 2020.
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen shared the announcement during a live global broadcast from the crew’s spacecraft, thousands of kilometers from Earth. “It’s a bright spot on the Moon. And we would like to call it Carroll,” he said, noting that the crater is visible from Earth during specific points of the Moon’s orbital transit around our planet. As Wiseman and his crewmates wiped away tears, the group shared a quiet, weightless embrace floating in the microgravity environment of their deep space craft.
Alongside the proposal for the crater named Carroll, the crew also put forward a second name, “Integrity,” for another nearby lunar feature — a tribute to the name the crew has given their Artemis II spacecraft. A NASA spokesperson based in Houston confirmed Monday that all naming suggestions put forward by the Artemis II crew will be formally submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the globally recognized governing body responsible for officially naming celestial bodies and surface features across the solar system.
Monday’s announcement came as the Artemis II crew made history of their own, becoming the humans who have traveled farther from Earth than any previous mission. As part of the flyby mission, the crew is preparing to observe regions of the lunar far side that have never before been viewed directly by the human eye, a milestone that paves the way for future crewed lunar landings as part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon.
Hansen emphasized that the mission’s legacy extends beyond this single flight, framing it as a call to action for current and future generations of explorers. “We most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next, to make sure this record is not long-lived,” he said.
Reid Wiseman, a former U.S. fighter pilot, has raised the couple’s two young daughters as a single parent since Carroll’s passing from cancer in 2020. The tribute on the Moon stands as a permanent memorial to her, carried into the final frontier by the husband who continues her legacy on Earth.