Artemis II astronauts break a record, name a crater

On Monday afternoon at approximately 2:00 PM Eastern time, the Artemis II crew achieved a historic milestone by traveling further from Earth than any humans in history. The astronauts surpassed the distance record of 248,655 miles, previously held by the Apollo 13 mission crew for 56 years. This remarkable achievement was commemorated through a deeply meaningful crater naming ceremony conducted while in lunar orbit.

During the record-breaking moment, the Artemis II crew proposed names for two lunar craters. The first crater was designated "Integrity," honoring their spacecraft that has carried them safely on this unprecedented journey. The second naming carried profound emotional significance for the crew.

Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen delivered the announcement during NASA's live broadcast, sharing the personal story behind the second crater designation. "A number of years ago, we started this journey and our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one," Hansen explained. "Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie."

Hansen described the selected crater as "a bright spot on the Moon" before announcing the crew's decision to name it "Carroll." The emotional weight of this tribute was evident as the crew members gathered aboard Integrity to share an embrace following Hansen's announcement. Carroll Wiseman, wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman, passed away from cancer in 2020 at the age of 46.

The proposed crater names now await official approval from the International Astronomical Union, the governing body responsible for the formal designation of planetary surface features throughout the solar system.