NASA’s Artemis II mission crew has officially surpassed the record of farthest distance from travelled during their Moon flyby on April 7. The Orion spacecraft carrying four astronauts broke the record set during Apollo 13 in 1970 by travelling beyond 4,00,171 kilometers – a moment which was celebrated with high emotions.
According to NASA, the Artemis II crew reached 406,764 km at its farthest point from our home planet.
To commemorate the Artemis II mission, the astronauts announced their suggestion to rename certain features on the Moon to honor the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, as well as commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll. pic.twitter.com/ejfhnItDo8
— NASA (@NASA) April 6, 2026
Then came the emotional moment. To commemorate this historic achievement, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency proposed naming a crater on the Moon after Carroll Taylor Wiseman, the wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman who passed away from cancer in 2020.
NASA honours commander Wiseman’s late wife
“A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family and we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll: the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie,” Hansen radioed to Earth, as Wiseman wiped his tears next to him.
Calling the crater a ‘bright spot’ along the Moon’s near side, Hansen proposed naming it Carroll to honor her memory. The four astronauts, including mission specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover, then came together for an embrace after Hansen finished his message.
They also proposed naming a second crater ‘Integrity’ after the Orion spacecraft they’re riding.
“Integrity and Carroll Crater, loud and clear,” NASA’s mission control responded.
The Artemis II mission, which launched on April 2, is on its fifth day and according to the real-time tracker, Orion spacecraft is about 4,00,756 km from Earth. It is scheduled to end on April 11 when the spacecraft will splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Throughout the course of the mission, the astronauts will be busy conducting experiments in space to learn more about the impacts of spaceflight on the human body. During last night’s flyby, they also studied the Moon’s geography and the Sun’s corona – outermost atmospheric layer – during the eclipse which lasted about an hour.
ALSO READ: NASA Moon Base: How The US Will Spend $20 Billion On This Ambitious Project
ALSO READ: NASA Artemis II: Why This Moon Mission Is Our Generation’s Apollo 8
