PASADENA, California (CNN) -- The late CNN Correspondent John Holliman may have the best seat in the house to watch the upcoming Discovery shuttle launch. And now, an asteroid has been named in his memory.

Holliman, who died last month in a car crash, was set to co-anchor the program on the launch with former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.

In honor of the space reporter, Asteroid 1989 HG has been redesignated "Asteroid 6711 Holliman" by Eleanor Helin of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Helin, with the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking project, discovered the asteroid and therefore retained the right to name it.

Following Holliman's death, the laboratory's media relations office had asked Helin to consider naming the asteroid after Holliman as a tribute to his enthusiasm and dedication in covering the U.S. space program.

Asteroid Holliman measures 10 kilometers in diameter (about 6 miles) and is in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered by Helin on April 30, 1989, from the Mount Palomar Observatory in California.

It was last observed by astronomers on August 27, 1998.

The asteroid's new name became official when it was accepted by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the International Astronomical Union.