Trump Awards Artemis II Crew Congressional Space Medal of Honor and Announces U.S. Space Academy

President Donald J. Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four Artemis II astronauts during a ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, honoring the crew for their record-setting lunar flyby earlier in the year. The Friday event marked the first time the nation’s highest space honor has been presented since 2023.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen received the medals following their April mission aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which the crew named Integrity. During the flight, the crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing a distance record set by Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970. In total, the mission covered 695,081 miles.

“We gather on these historic grounds to celebrate the immense courage of four intrepid space heroes whose sense of daring and adventure led them further from Earth than anyone has ever traveled ever before,” President Trump said during the packed ceremony. The president also used the occasion to announce the creation of a U.S. Space Academy for the Space Force, NASA, and the commercial space community, noting that the academy’s location has yet to be determined.

Honoring the Artemis II Crew

The Congressional Space Medal of Honor was authorized by Congress in 1969 to recognize an astronaut who in the performance of duties has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally brave and meritorious efforts. There are now 34 recipients in total, including crews of Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia who received the award posthumously. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman noted during the ceremony that the Artemis II mission demonstrated American leadership in exploration.

“President Trump’s leadership has put America back on a path to lead the world in space, from creating the Artemis program to giving NASA the resources and mandate to win this new space race,” Isaacman said.

The crew members emphasized the collaborative nature of the flight. “Piloting Orion for the first time in space was a profound honor, made possible because of the years of hard work, dedication, and expertise by countless individuals dedicating their time and talents to the mission,” Glover stated.

Next Steps for NASA’s Lunar Program

The Artemis II mission paved the way for upcoming flights under NASA’s lunar exploration framework. The Artemis III test flight is scheduled for 2027 in low Earth orbit to demonstrate rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial human landing systems. Following that, Artemis IV is planned for 2028 to return American astronauts to the lunar surface near the south pole.

During Friday’s proceedings, as the two-hour ceremony concluded, the Artemis II astronauts presented President Trump with a blue flight jacket featuring space patches—a promise made during a visit to the Oval Office earlier in the year. Following the event, the president visited Mission Control to place a call to U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station to inform them of the newly announced U.S. Space Academy.