President Trump to honor Artemis II crew with Congressional Space Medal of Honor

HOUSTON - President Donald Trump will award the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the Artemis II crew on Aug. 28 at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Fox News and CBS News reported after NASA announced the ceremony.

The recipients are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. In April they flew the first crewed Orion mission and the first astronaut trip around the moon in more than half a century.

At their farthest point they reached 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the human distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, NASA said. The crew covered 695,081 miles over nearly 10 days. Liftoff came April 1 from Kennedy Space Center on the Space Launch System. On April 6 they flew within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface. Orion splashdown followed April 10 in the Pacific off California after re-entry near 25,000 mph.

The astronauts tested life-support systems, manually flew the spacecraft, and collected more than 7,000 images, including earthrise views and flashes from meteoroids on the moon's night side. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the crew accepted significant risk while proving systems meant for deeper flights. Under President Trump's leadership, he said, Artemis II inspired confidence for returning Americans to the moon to build a base and stay.

Congress created the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1969. The president awards it in Congress's name for exceptionally meritorious astronaut contributions. NASA lists 30 prior recipients, including Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell. The Artemis II four would bring the total to 34.

NASA plans Artemis III commercial lander tests in low Earth orbit in 2027 and targets Artemis IV for the program's first lunar landing in 2028, with a longer goal of sustained lunar presence and eventual Mars preparation.