Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman broke NASA protocol to save the mission's moon mascot: 'It's hard not to love this little guy. I can't let Rise out of my sight'

a man in an orange flight suit smiles while carrying a small stuffed moon — NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Artemis 2 commander, gives NASA Flight Surgeon Richard Scheuring a hug next to a Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 on the flight deck of USS John P. Murtha after splashdown, Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Reid Wiseman had one last decision to make before leaving his spacecraft post-splashdown: leave something behind in accordance with NASA's post-splashdown checklist, or not?

Reid Wiseman, the NASA Artemis 2 commander, was supposed to leave a little plushie moon toy — called Rise — for later retrieval from his Integrity Orion spacecraft. But after 10 days floating alongside the mascot to the moon and back again, Wiseman had a different thought about that procedure.

Officially, Rise is a zero-gravity indicator created by Lucas Ye, a third grader from California. It's a mini-moon, with an Earth-colored cap brimmed with stars. Inside the little toy are over 5 million names on an SD card, submitted by folks around the world looking to fly their monikers to the moon.

Rise floated on camera in front of the crew after they reached space April 1, before the eyes of Wiseman, NASA's Victor Glover, NASA's Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen. But during the unfolding of the historical lunar flyby mission — the first human moon visit in nearly 54 years — Rise also became a symbol far beyond serving as a demonstration of when Integrity left Earth's gravity.

two people in blue flight suits and sunglasses smile on an airplane tarmac. one of them is carrying a small stuffed moon with a smiley face — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover arrive at Kennedy Space Center on March 27, 2026, carrying "Rise," the zero-gravity indicator they took with them on their journey to the moon. (Image credit: NASA/Brandon Hancock)

Moon memorial

Crew members often played with Rise during livestreamed conversations with Earth, and the toy also took over NASA's social media streams mid-mission. But sharp-eyed folks on social media caught something very special in a NASA picture of Ye's family posted Friday (April 10): at some point, Ye's Rise (a prototype of the mascot) was inscribed with the name "Carroll."

Carroll is the name of Wiseman's wife, who died in 2020 of cancer. The crew suggested naming a moon crater after her, during one of the most touching moments of their lunar flyby livestream. (The suggestion will be sent to the International Astronomical Union, which is the official arbitrator of astronomical monikers).

"A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family and we lost a loved one," Artemis 2 mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said to mission control during the April 6 event. "Her name was Carroll: the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie." Following the announcement, the four crew members shared one of their many group hugs on camera, before separating and visibly wiping tears.

four people hug inside a cramped spacecraft full of wires and cargo under netting — The Artemis 2 astronuats share a group hug after naming a crater in honor Carroll Wiseman, the late wife of commander Reid Wiseman. (Image credit: NASA)

Bringing Rise home

Now safely back on his home planet on Friday, Wiseman readied for his self-devised final mission procedure: how to get the palm-sized Rise safely out of the spacecraft to the Pacific Ocean pickup area.

"I stuffed that little guy in a dry bag we had in our survival kit, and hooked the bag onto my pressure suit," Wiseman wrote on X.

This allowed Rise to close out the mission alongside the crew. Secured on Wiseman's suit, Rise briefly waited on a raft in the Pacific Ocean before a dramatic hoist into a waiting U.S. Navy helicopter, which whisked Rise, Wiseman and Hansen to the USS John P Murtha. (Glover and Koch, in their own helicopter, took the same journey to the vessel.)

The next day, Wiseman still had Rise with him. He used a lanyard to secure the toy to a water bottle: "It's hard not to love this little guy. I can't let Rise out of my sight," Wiseman said in a separate X post on Saturday, posted from the crew's next stop at Naval Air Station North Island in California.

As far as we know, Rise is still with Wiseman. Rise appeared on-stage with Wiseman and the rest of the crew in Houston, at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center, when they celebrated the end of their mission on Saturday with much of the NASA astronaut corps.

Rise next made a cameo in an image Wiseman posted on X hours later with his daughters, with the simple caption "Mission complete", accompanied by three hearts.

NASA and Wiseman haven't revealed Rise's next adventure yet, but in general, it is up to the agency and U.S. law to determine what happens to space-flown artifacts after a mission (which depends on the program and era).

But folks on Reddit nevertheless joked that Rise is a member of Wiseman's family. "Reid's new child, Rise Wiseman," read one popular comment on Reddit. Or as someone else called the toy: "Rise Weidman."

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, leading world coverage about a lost-and-found space tomato on the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.

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