On a Monday in early April, as the Orion spacecraft curved behind the Moon, the Artemis II crew looked down on two nameless craters near the Orientale basin and offered names: Integrity, for the ship that carried them, and Carroll, for the wife of their commander, a neonatal nurse who died in 2020. The gesture carries the quiet logic of human memory reaching into an ancient landscape, since craters are the preserved scars of billions of years of impacts. The names remain only proposals until the International Astronomical Union weighs them after the mission returns.
Artemis II Crew Proposes Crater Name 'Carroll' to Honour Commander Reid Wiseman's Late Wife
A crater named for a nurse would join a surface that archives the solar system.
Mark
Two craters got provisional names during the flyby. What were they?
Mimi
Integrity, after the Orion spacecraft, and Carroll, for Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman. Both sit near the Orientale basin.
Mark
Who was she?
Mimi
According to NASA, a neonatal intensive care nurse. She died May 17, 2020, and Wiseman has raised their two children on his own since.
Luke
Let's be clear that the names aren't official. The crew proposed them, and the International Astronomical Union hasn't received or approved anything yet.
Mimi
Right. The submission comes after the mission ends. It's a proposal until the IAU decides.
Mark
And the distance record?
Mimi
They passed Apollo 13's 1970 mark, reaching 248,655 miles from Earth.
Luke
Worth noting the report gives that figure without saying who measured it or whether it's final. I'd treat it as the number reported at the time, not a settled one.
Mark
The piece also mentions a 2016 tweet.
Mimi
Wiseman wrote that he'd dreamt of lunar orbit. He quoted it after the flyby and said he feels gratitude.
Luke
That's his own account. What we don't know is how the crew chose these two craters or whether the IAU will accept the names.
O Pulso
- Two unnamed craters near the Orientale basin became the stage for a spontaneous act of remembrance during the April 6 Moon flyby.
- Commander Reid Wiseman's proposal to honour his late wife, a neonatal ICU nurse, rests on a name that is not yet official.
- The crew passed the Apollo 13 distance record, reaching roughly 248,655 miles from Earth, a mark no human had ever reached.
- The proposals await formal submission to the International Astronomical Union once splashdown on April 10 closes the mission.
- The crew is more than halfway through the journey, and the names will only become permanent after they return home.
On a Monday in early April, as the Orion spacecraft curved behind the Moon, the Artemis II crew looked down on two nameless craters near the Orientale basin and offered names: Integrity, for the ship that carried them, and Carroll, for the wife of their commander, a neonatal nurse who died in 2020. The gesture carries the quiet logic of human memory reaching into an ancient landscape, since craters are the preserved scars of billions of years of impacts. The names remain only proposals until the International Astronomical Union weighs them after the mission returns.
On Monday, April 6, as the four Artemis II astronauts swung around the Moon, they noticed two craters near the Orientale basin that had no official names. They radioed Earth with provisional names for both. One was Integrity, after the spacecraft carrying them. The other was Carroll, after Carroll Taylor Wiseman, the late wife of Commander Reid Wiseman.
Carroll spent her working life as a registered nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit. She died on May 17, 2020. Wiseman now raises their two children alone, a chapter he has described as both his greatest challenge and his most rewarding.
The naming came on a historic day. Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen passed the Apollo 13 record for the farthest distance any human has travelled from Earth, reaching about 248,655 miles. The crew has also been photographing parts of the Moon that human eyes had never seen, and they say that seeing Earth from so far away has deepened their sense of how much the one planet that sustains life deserves care.
Neither name is official yet. After splashdown on April 10, the proposals will go to the International Astronomical Union. Until then, they remain the crew's suggestions, offered in a quiet moment far from home.
On Monday, April 6, as their Orion spacecraft swung around the Moon, the four Artemis II astronauts noticed two craters near the Orientale basin that carry no official names. They radioed the people back on Earth with provisional names for both. One they proposed calling Integrity, after the spacecraft carrying them. The other they proposed calling Carroll.
Carroll sits northeast of Integrity, on the boundary between the Moon's near and far sides. The name honours Carroll Taylor Wiseman, the late wife of mission Commander Reid Wiseman. According to NASA, she spent her working life as a registered nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit. She died on May 17, 2020. Wiseman is raising their two children as a single parent, and he has described that chapter of his life as both his greatest challenge and his most rewarding.
Neither name is official yet. Once the mission ends, the proposals are to be formally submitted to the International Astronomical Union, the body that names celestial objects and surface features. Until it acts, they remain suggestions from the crew.
The naming came on a day that was already historic. Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen passed the record for the farthest distance any human mission has travelled from Earth. They surpassed the mark set by Apollo 13 in 1970, reaching 248,655 miles, or about 400,171 kilometres, from home. Humanity has never been farther away.
Along the way the crew has taken selfies during the flyby and recorded an crew introduction in the style of an 1980s sitcom. They have also said that seeing Earth from so far off has sharpened their sense of how much the planet, the one rock in space that sustains life, deserves to be looked after together. They have also been photographing the Moon, including portions of its surface that human eyes had not seen before.
For Wiseman, the destination has a long backstory. On December 7, 2016, he posted that he had dreamt he was in lunar orbit the night before and was stuck in the flat mood that follows a vivid dream that wasn't real. A decade later, he quoted that same post and wrote that all he feels is gratitude for the experience.
Craters themselves are a kind of record. They are scars from billions of years of impacts by asteroids, meteoroids and comets. The Moon has no atmosphere, weather or geological activity to wear them away, so they stay preserved, ranging from small pits to vast basins. A crater named for a nurse would join a surface that archives the solar system's violent history.
According to NASA, the crew is already more than halfway through the mission. At their closest approach, they will be 4,067 miles, about 6,545 kilometres, from the lunar surface. Splashdown is scheduled for Friday, April 10, and the International Astronomical Union submission follows after that.
Citações Notáveis
All I feel is gratitude for this experience.— Reid Wiseman, Artemis II Commander
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