Islander’s younger brother served as commander of Artemis II

Published 12:30 pm Thursday, April 16, 2026

When Bill and Reid Wiseman were kids, they often spoke about how cool it would be to get involved in space travel.

A self-proclaimed science and engineering nerd, Bill — an eight-year Mercer Island resident — went into the Navy and later became a chip designer.

The Wisemans, who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, had both watched the rip-roaring movie “Top Gun” and Bill knew his younger brother wanted to become a pilot. Reid, who was a stellar drummer in high school, also made his way into the Navy and soared to the No. 1 spot in his flight and jet school classes.

“He just took off from there,” Bill said.

Reid kept going — and achieving higher performance levels that eventually led him to becoming a NASA astronaut in 2009. He’s thrived in that role for the last 17 years, and the flight engineer went on a major journey with the Expedition 40/41 crew that flew to the International Space Station in 2014.

On April 1, there was another immense blast off for Reid, 50, who served as the commander of the four-member Artemis II test flight crew during its record-setting mission that included a lunar flyby. During the nearly 10-day historic journey, Reid and his crew were the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century, according to a NASA press release. They lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and splashed down off the coast of San Diego.

The Artemis II crew, which reached a maximum speed of 25,000 mph, traveled 252,756 miles from home at its farthest distance from Earth and the astronauts flew a total of 694,481 miles, NASA noted.

Bill said it was a fascinating experience to witness the Artemis II’s powerful launch into the sky in person with about 500 other people. Everyone became emotional and they were all blown away by the spectacle.

“It was unreal. Watching those solid rocket boosters push that rocket up into orbit was the brightest thing I’ve ever seen. I was looking at the launch through some pretty good binoculars and I literally had kind of the burn-in, like when you stare at the sun and you get that little purple spot in your eye for a little bit. It was like that for like three or four days afterwards,” said Bill, who is a senior partner at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Seattle.

A day before the launch, Bill joined his wife and dad in a 30-minute discussion with Reid, who was quarantined behind a large sheet of glass. They spoke for about 15 minutes about their favorite memories of their mom, who died six years ago on the exact date of the launch.

It was a great, emotional conversation, Bill said.

“We talked about what he was looking forward to, what he was worried about. Our dad was definitely a huge bundle of nerves, thinking about his younger son being on (an) almost untested rocket for nine and a half days. I would say I was excited to see the level of commitment that he had, the level of confidence that he was demonstrating in that conversation. It just spoke to… you know, he was ready to go,” Bill added.

Bill and Reid emailed every day about what was transpiring on the journey and Reid had two or three video conferences with his two daughters. Bill thinks it was healthy for Reid and his children to connect during that time.

“I think Reid had a real struggle choosing whether or not to do the Artemis mission,” Bill said. Reid is a single parent after his wife died of cancer in 2020. During the crew’s lunar flyby, it named a crater on the moon after Reid’s wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman.

In an Instagram post, Reid noted: “Distance makes the heart grow fonder…it didn’t take 219,669 miles (at post time) to remind me how much love I have for Ellie and Katey. They have been incredible supporters during this journey, and they now fully understand why it was important for me to go explore into the unknown.” Ellie is age 20 and Katey is 17.

Bill, who also has two children about Reid’s girls’ same ages, said that Reid was emotionally voiced while speaking with him about two hours after Artemis II landed. Bill asked if Reid had spoken with his girls (which he had) and wanted to know what was going through his brother’s mind.

“He said, ‘I don’t even know how to process this. That was the most spectacular and terrifying thing I’ve ever done in my life,’” said Bill, adding that Reid presented a masterclass in servant leadership during the successful mission.

Reid inspires Bill each day by what he’s achieved at NASA and “it’s been a source of pride for the family for years,” Bill said.