‘A true hero’: Baltimore County Council honors Artemis II astronaut Reid Wiseman.

The Baltimore County Council celebrated hometown astronaut Reid Wiseman Monday night, honoring the Cockeysville native two months after he led Artemis II’s historic trip around the moon.

A ceremony was held in the newly renovated council chambers in Towson, 6 miles south of the Springdale neighborhood where Wiseman spent his childhood building and launching rockets over Loch Raven Reservoir. The council awarded him a proclamation, while Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier presented him with hats, pins and a county flag.

Wiseman attended the tribute virtually from Houston, where he has lived since being selected for the astronaut program in 2009. A cardboard cutout of the 50-year-old dressed in an orange spacesuit stood at the front of the room.

“It’s not often that we get to have a national — in fact, global — hero join us in our historic council chamber," Council Chair Mike Ertel said.

Artemis II was the first crewed flight to the moon since the Apollo program more than 50 years ago. Wiseman, a 1993 graduate of Dulaney High School, served as the mission commander.

During the 10-day voyage, Wiseman and his crew didn’t land on the moon but looped around it, which NASA said could pave the way for future lunar landings and human exploration of Mars. The astronauts ventured farther from Earth than any humans, capturing unprecedented views of the moon’s far side.

In remarks to the council, Wiseman reflected on the emotional journey he and his family have shared in recent months.

After losing his wife, Carroll, to cancer in 2020, he became a single father to two daughters and questioned whether he should continue taking on the risks of spaceflight. A moon voyage was ultimately too great an opportunity to pass up, but his daughters expressed their concerns. His 83-year-old father, Bill Wiseman, cried the day before the April 1 launch.

But during a video call with his daughters on the seventh day of the trip, Wiseman realized that his family understood why the mission was important, despite the risks.

“Every kid that walks out and looks at that moon right now knows that people have been out there,” Wiseman said Monday. “I think that’s extremely powerful and that creates a whole generation of dreamers.”

Wiseman said growing up in Baltimore County shaped his dream of a career in aviation. He recalled seeing A-10 attack jets near Martin State Airport and the Blue Angels fly over the Naval Academy. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which he watched as a student at Warren Elementary School, first made him think about space.

“That’s why, to me, it just matters so much that people go out and do daring things and remind the world that we, as humanity, can go do these things,” Wiseman said.

Among those attending Monday’s ceremony was Wiseman’s father, a former county attorney and zoning commissioner who still lives in Cockeysville.

Diagnosed in 2020 with metastatic prostate cancer, Bill Wiseman said he was determined to live long enough to witness his youngest son’s lunar voyage. He watched the launch in person from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, surrounded by his son’s family, childhood friends, college classmates and military buddies.

“I was scared to death,” Bill Wiseman recalled Monday.

The launch fell on the sixth anniversary of the day Reid Wiseman’s mother, Judy, died of Alzheimer’s disease.

“I think she sat on his shoulder,” Bill Wiseman said.

County officials took turns congratulating Reid Wiseman and the Artemis II crew, praising them for bringing people together and captivating the world.

Councilmen David Marks and Todd Crandell recalled meeting Wiseman after his 2014 voyage to the International Space Station, when the council honored him with a hero pin.

“You are a true hero in Baltimore County,” Marks said. “I just want to thank you for all that you’re doing to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers and astronauts.”

Councilman Julian Jones said Wiseman was an inspiration to students across the county.

“Every kid from this day forward who comes to Baltimore County Public Schools will know that they can reach tremendous heights, such as yourself,” Jones said.

The Artemis II crew included mission specialist Christina Koch, who also has Maryland ties. While living in the state in the 2000s, she worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. She has also sailed competitively in the Annapolis area.

Also aboard were pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian. The mission made Koch the first woman, Glover the first person of color, and Hansen the first non-American to visit the moon.

The mission was a source of pride throughout the Baltimore region. Klausmeier and Wiseman’s beloved Orioles and Ravens sent their well-wishes. Hundreds filled the auditorium at Dulaney High School on April 10 to watch a broadcast of Artemis II’s return to Earth, cheering as a capsule carrying the crew fell safely into the Pacific Ocean.

“I was also proud, and frankly relieved, when I saw the Orion spacecraft come down from the heavens and safely splash down off the coast of San Diego,” Ertel said Monday. “It was just surreal.”

A whirlwind of media appearances, postflight testing and celebrations have kept Wiseman from visiting Baltimore since his historic flight. He said he hoped to return sometime in August or September, when schools are open and he can spend time with students.

“Reid has never forgotten his local Baltimore County roots,” the council’s proclamation read. It described Wiseman as “a wonderful ambassador for Baltimore County.”