Astronaut Brings Moon Mascot Home to Honor Late Wife

When NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after humanity's first moon visit in 54 years, he made a choice that wasn't in the mission manual.

The Artemis 2 commander was supposed to leave a palm-sized plush moon toy called Rise inside the Orion spacecraft for later retrieval. Instead, he stuffed the little mascot into a survival kit dry bag and hooked it to his pressure suit.

"That was not something I was going to do," Wiseman wrote on social media the day after the April 10 landing.

Rise started as a simple zero-gravity indicator created by third grader Lucas Ye from California. The toy moon sports an Earth-colored cap rimmed with stars and carries an SD card loaded with over 5 million names from people around the world.

During the 10-day mission, Rise became something much bigger. The crew played with the toy during livestreamed conversations, and it took over NASA's social media feeds as millions watched the historic lunar flyby unfold.

But eagle-eyed space fans spotted something special in photos of Ye's family: someone had inscribed the prototype Rise with the name "Carroll."

Carroll Wiseman died of cancer in 2020. During one of the mission's most moving moments on April 6, the crew suggested naming a moon crater after her while circling Earth's closest neighbor.

"A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family and we lost a loved one," crew member Jeremy Hansen told mission control. "Her name was Carroll: the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie."

The four astronauts shared a group hug on camera, then separated to wipe away visible tears. The International Astronomical Union will review the crater naming request.

Why This Inspires

Wiseman's decision to keep Rise close shows how space exploration remains deeply human, even 240,000 miles from home. The little moon mascot connected a grieving family, a creative third grader, 5 million dreamers, and four astronauts on history's newest lunar journey.

After splashing down, Rise stayed secured to Wiseman's suit on a Pacific Ocean raft, then rode with him in a Navy helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha. By the next day at Naval Air Station North Island in California, Wiseman had attached Rise to a water bottle with a lanyard.

"It's hard not to love this little guy," Wiseman posted. "I can't let Rise out of my sight."

The tiny moon traveled nearly half a million miles carrying millions of names and one written in memory of a woman who never got to see her husband circle the moon but whose name now floats in space alongside those who believed anything is possible.