Artemis II Crew Names Moon Crater After Reid Wiseman’s Late Wife

The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission has proposed naming a lunar crater after Carroll Wiseman, the late wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman. The proposal was communicated from the Orion spacecraft to mission control on April 6, 2026, during an emotional broadcast captured on NASA’s livestream.

The request was delivered by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who radioed mission control to express the crew’s desire to honor their mission by naming two craters on the moon. One of these craters was dedicated to Carroll Wiseman, who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 46.

During the transmission, Hansen described the selected lunar feature as a bright spot on the moon and stated, We would like to call it Carroll. He further identified her as the spouse of Reid and the mother of Katey and Ellie.

A Tribute to a Healthcare Professional

The dedication highlighted the professional life of Carroll Wiseman, who served as a registered nurse. NASA noted that she dedicated her life to helping others as a newborn intensive care unit registered nurse.

The announcement triggered a visible emotional response among the crew members floating in zero gravity. Video from the mission showed astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch wiping tears from their eyes as the group embraced following the tribute.

Commander Reid Wiseman’s Personal Context

Reid Wiseman was named the commander of the Artemis II mission in 2023. The proposal to name the crater serves as a memorial to a partner whose loss left him as a single parent to their two daughters.

According to Wiseman’s NASA biography, while he has achieved various professional accolades, he views his time as an only parent as the greatest challenge and the most rewarding phase of his life.

The personal stakes of the mission were previously discussed by Wiseman in an interview with the TODAY show several months before liftoff, where he admitted to feeling trepidation regarding the amount of time the mission would require him to be away from his family.

The emotional moment shared between the crew and mission control in Houston underscored the human dimensions of the Artemis II mission as the astronauts operate from the Orion capsule.