Artemis II astronauts suggest 2 names for moon's many craters

As the astronauts aboard Artemis II's Orion flew over the far side of the Moon on April 6, they and the mission's science officers back on Earth couldn't hide their excitement over the steady stream of observations being relayed about the lunar geography.

"It's an incredible experience," said Mission Specialist Christina Koch. The astronauts studied for years to be able to relay observations about the moon's specific features, including its more than 1,600 named craters.

As the mission broke the record for being farther from the Earth than any other human in history, the Artemis II crew proposed names for two more recent craters that had not yet been named.

For the first, they offered "Integrity," the name the crew gave to their capsule, said Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen. "If you look at Orientale on the far side, and then draw a line straight up to Ohm on the far side," the crater is relatively in the middle.

The second name, "especially meaningful" to the close-knit astronaut family, is Carroll, Hansen said. That's in memory of the late wife of flight commander Reid Wiseman and the mother of their two daughters, Katie and Ellie. She died on May 17, 2020.

"There's a feature in a really neat place on the moon," just on the near side of the boundary between the near side and far side, Hansen said. "At certain times of the moon's transit around Earth, we will be able to see this from Earth."

"It's a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call it Carroll," he said.

Hansen's voice broke, and Wiseman and Koch could be seen wiping away tears before the feed went briefly silent, and all four astronauts moved into a group hug.

How many named features are on the moon?

More than 9,100 features on the moon have been named.

Of those, 81 have been named by astronauts, according to the official list kept by the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center. The center works in collaboration with the International Astrological Union.

One of the terms that came up often during the April 6 flyby was mare, the large, dark areas that are former lava flows on the surface. At least 22 of those have been named.

The astronauts also noticed major differences between the low areas and the higher elevation areas. The mountains, peaks and ridges are known as mons, and 59 of those have been named.

What are some of the specific features being studied?

Two massive craters were on the to-do list: the Orientale and Hertzsprung basins.

The crew observed different colors on the surface of Orientale, a 3.8-billion-year-old impact crater that straddles the near and far sides. The astronauts also noted light reflecting from the topography in its rings.

Hertzsprung, a nearly 400-mile-wide crater on the far side, is an older basin and was expected to help the astronauts learn more about how the moon's features evolve over geologic timescales.

Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

Dinah Voyles Pulver is a national correspondent for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.