The Conversation (0)
Science & Tech
NASA
As the first ever humans to set eyes upon the dark side of the moon, the crew part of the Artemis II mission has the privilege of naming some of its features – and they gave one crater a very special name.
On Monday (6 April), the Artemis II mission made history as it completed the lunar observation period, breaking the record for human spaceflight. The astronauts named one newly observed crater “Integrity”, after their capsule. Another has been given an even more sentimental name, which brought the crew and observers to tears.
“A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one,” astronaut Jeremy Hansen said. “Her name was Carroll. The spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie.”
Hansen continued: “It’s a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call it Carroll.” The astronauts then all did a group hug.
The name “Carroll” was given in honour of the late wife of Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who passed away from cancer in 2020, aged 46.
The poignant moment left many onlookers emotional.
“Carroll, now a bright spot on our Moon, because four people, who travelled farther from Earth than any human in the 4.5-billion-year history of Earth has ever been, loved someone so much, they carried her the whole way there,” someone wrote.
Another wrote: “Carroll Crater. That got the tears flowing a little, not gonna lie.”
Someone else said: “I genuinely feel like this is one of the most beautiful moments of humanity I’ll ever witness in my life.”
One Instagrammer was overcome with tears making a video about it. She added: “Being human is really all we have, huh.”
On X/Twitter, another said: “YA'LL, I am crying in the club.”
Why not read…
- White House sets out ominous goal to takeover the Moon
- NASA scientists says astronauts should not masturbate in space
- Artemis II’s stunning snap of Earth results in ‘group photo’ memes
Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.