Artemis II crew to receive congressional space medal of honour from President Trump

The 4 astronauts who made historical past aboard the Artemis II lunar flyby mission are set to obtain the USA’ highest area honour, NASA has introduced. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will obtain the Congressional House Medal of Honor on 28 August at a ceremony at NASA’s Johnson House Heart in Houston.

In line with NASA, solely 30 astronauts have beforehand obtained the distinguished honor. The recipients embody Neil Armstrong, the primary individual to stroll on the Moon, and John Glenn, who turned the primary American to orbit Earth earlier than later serving 4 phrases within the US Senate. Regardless of the medal’s title, the 4 Artemis II astronauts had been chosen by President Donald Trump after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman really useful them for the award.

The Artemis II crew made historical past throughout their 10-day mission, which started on 1 April. The astronauts traveled farther from Earth than any people earlier than them, surpassing the space file set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970. Throughout their journey across the Moon, Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen reached 252,756 miles (406,771km) from Earth. That exceeded Apollo 13’s earlier file of 248,655 miles and marked one other main milestone within the US effort to return people to the Moon and ultimately ship astronauts to Mars.

Reflecting on the mission after the crew safely returned to Earth, Wiseman mentioned: “This was not straightforward,” Wiseman mentioned to reporters after the Artemis II mission safely ended with a textbook splashdown within the Pacific Ocean. “Earlier than you launch, it feels prefer it’s the best dream on Earth. And if you’re on the market, you simply need to get again to your households and your mates. It’s a particular factor to be a human, and it’s a particular factor to be on planet Earth.”

The medal ceremony is going down 4 months after Trump welcomed the Artemis II astronauts to the White Home. Throughout that occasion, the president, who turned 80 in June, praised the crew and mentioned: “I might have had no bother making it, I’m bodily very, excellent.” NASA has listed the ceremony as starting at 11am, with a livestream of the occasion obtainable by way of NASA’s web site. The popularity comes because the Trump administration seeks important reductions to NASA’s funds. The administration has proposed a 23% general minimize to NASA funding for the 2027 fiscal 12 months, which begins on 1 October, together with a proposed 46% discount in area science spending.

Nonetheless, a Home commerce, justice and science subcommittee led by Trump’s Republican Celebration has superior another NASA funding proposal that might protect a number of science programmes focused for cuts by the administration. The Congressional House Medal of Honor has beforehand been awarded to astronauts who died within the Apollo 1 fireplace and within the Challenger and Columbia area shuttle disasters, in addition to different pioneering spacefarers.

Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken had been the newest astronauts chosen for the distinction earlier than the Artemis II crew. In 2020, Hurley and Behnken turned the primary astronauts to launch into orbit aboard a industrial spacecraft. They obtained their medals in 2023 in the course of the presidency of Joe Biden.