Astronaut Emily Calandrelli, the 100th woman to go to space, was over the moon to welcome her second child last week. But she’s facing a new frontier during this newborn stage: navigating life in the NICU.
Although this may not be the newborn experience Calandrelli planned for, it does give her an extra special link to the Artemis II.
On April 8, Calandrelli shared on Instagram that her baby girl would be arriving sooner than expected, “but that means I get to meet my baby girl while the first woman ever is around the moon,” she wrote.
Late on Monday, April 13, she posted a follow-up. Calandrelli wrote on Instagram that her baby — named Lily Bradley after her father — may have arrived early, but she is “just in time for Artemis II, just in time for Carroll.”
She continued, “I can’t stop thinking about the lunar crater Carroll, named after a NICU nurse. It feels like one of those quiet, cosmic connections.”
Calandrelli is referring to the fact that the four astronauts completing NASA’s Artemis II mission requested to name a lunar crater on the moon after NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman’s wife, Carroll. Carroll Wiseman was only 46 years old when she died from cancer. According to her husband’s official NASA profile, Carroll “dedicated her life to helping others as a newborn intensive care unit Registered Nurse.”
Calandrelli is not the only parent who feels emotional knowing that there’s a NICU nurse represented on the moon. Thousands of moms have been viewing and liking posts on social media about finding comfort in Carroll watching their babies from above.
“These NICU nurses are angels on earth. I’m so grateful she has them watching over her in these early days,” wrote Calandrelli in her April 13 post. “And now, every time I look up at the moon, I’ll think of Carroll — and be reminded of our girl, who arrived on her own perfect timeline, held by the very same kind of care.”
She added, “Because even when we can’t be there, these NICU nurses love our babies to the moon and back.”