'We all pretty much broke down right there': Inside the Artemis 2 astronauts' emotional moment near the moon

By Mike Wall published 2 hours ago

"That was, I think, where the four of us were the most forged, the most bonded, and we came out of that really focused on that day ahead."



Just after they broke a 56-year-old spaceflight record, the Artemis 2 astronauts shared a powerful moment that deepened their already profound bond.

On Monday (April 6), Artemis 2 made it farther from Earth than any crewed mission ever had before, topping the mark set by NASA's Apollo 13 moon mission in April 1970 (248,655 miles, or 400,171 kilometers).

The astronauts marked the occasion by celebrating a lost loved one — Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who died of cancer in 2020. Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen radioed down to Mission Control, asking permission to name a moon crater after Carroll.



Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman and his wife Carroll Taylor Wiseman. (Image credit: Wiseman Family)

"There is a feature in a really neat place on the moon, and it is on the near side-far side boundary," Hansen said.

"In fact, it’s just on the near side of that boundary, and so at certain times of the moon's transit around Earth, we will be able to see this from Earth," he added. "It's a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call it Carroll."

More:
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/we-all-pretty-much-broke-down-right-there-inside-the-artemis-2-astronauts-emotional-moment-near-the-moon