VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Everyone, including folks here in Hampton Roads, has had their eyes on the Artemis II crew these past two weeks. And we’ve discovered another reason to be proud of this mission, as Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll Wiseman, was a native of Virginia Beach.
The four astronauts on board the Orion spacecraft Integrity are a tight-knit family. They’ve worked together long before they started training for this mission. So, they knew Carroll Wiseman well and honored her memory this week.
It was an emotional moment for the Artemis II astronauts Monday. As they were breaking records for the farthest distance traveled from the earth by any human — moment for reflection— they chose to make it a moment of love.“And so, we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll,” said astronaut Jeremy Hansen in a transmission to Mission Control Monday.Being the first humans to see the far side of the moon with the naked eye, they asked to name two newly-observed craters — one after their Orion spacecraft “Integrity,” and the other after astronaut Reid Wiseman’s wife, Carroll who died May 17, 2020, after a five-year battle with cancer.“Our science team helped us out with a couple of relatively fresh craters on the moon that have not been previously named and our crew would like to propose a couple of potential names,” Hansen said. “… And so, we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie. … It’s a bright spot on the moon … and we would like to call it Carroll.”Carroll Wiseman was, herself, a bright spot for many. She was a native of Virginia Beach, as well as a graduate of First Colonial High School, James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University. She chose a career in selfless service of others, graduating as a pediatric nurse practitioner and working at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters before working as a school nurse at other hospitals in Maryland and Texas. She was also a newborn intensive care unit registered nurse. She married Reid Wiseman in 2003 and was mother to two daughters, Ellie and Katie.As her illness progressed, Reid told NBC News he wanted to move the family back to the East Coast, but she urged him to stay in Houston and continue training as an astronaut, knowing it was the job he loved…