As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) prepares for its first manned mission in more than half a century, Artemis II crew member Reid Wiseman had one of the most difficult conversations with his daughters.
The 50-year-old discussed his own death plan with his teenage daughters.
A single father, he raised Ellie and Katherine after the death of his wife, who died of cancer in 2020.
Before going to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, he took his daughters for a walk and mentally prepared them that he might not return from the 10-day lunar flight.
Wiseman said, “Here’s where the will is, here’s where the trust documents are, and if something happens to me, here’s what’s going to happen to you.”
“I actually wish more people talked to their families like that on a daily basis, because you never know what the next day will bring,” he added.
The mission is scheduled to launch from Florida on Wednesday, April 1. The crew includes three additional members named Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The crew will make the journey around the moon in the Orion spacecraft, the first human mission to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Wiseman said that while his daughters initially had “zero interest” in his relaunch after spending five months on the International Space Station in 2014, they eventually came around after discussing the importance of the mission with him, even baking him moon-themed cupcakes the following morning.
He acknowledged that the hardest part is “the stress” he puts on his daughters.
