President Donald Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the three Americans and one Canadian whose April lunar flyby set a new distance record for humanity.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other dignitaries took part in the packed ceremony at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, home to Mission Control. Trump used the occasion to announce the creation of a U.S. Space Academy for the Space Force as well as NASA and the commercial space community.
“Space is the hot thing,” the president told the crowd, adding that the academy's location has yet to be determined.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen became the first astronauts to travel to the moon in more than half a century, coming within 4,067 miles while test-driving NASA’s new Orion capsule. They were the first to launch aboard NASA's new moon rocket, a 30-story behemoth that had soared only once before from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
While they didn’t stop at the moon, the four set the stage for next year’s Artemis III docking rehearsal in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV’s moon landing by two astronauts, near the lunar south pole, could follow as soon as 2028.
Trump said Americans will land back on the moon before his term ends. Mars is next — “very shortly,” he said.
The president called the newest recipients “four intrepid space heroes.” He pointed out that they did not do it alone, thanking all who contributed to the Artemis II mission.
