Artemis II astronauts receive top US space honor after moonshot
The April lunar flyby brought the crew within 4,067 miles (6,545 km) of the moon and set a new human distance record.
The four Artemis II astronauts who flew around the moon earlier this year received the United States' highest space honor Friday for their historic mission.
President Donald Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen at a packed ceremony at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The April lunar flyby brought the crew within 4,067 miles (6,545 km) of the moon and set a new human distance record.
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They became the first astronauts to travel to the moon in more than 50 years and the first to launch aboard Nasa's new 30-story moon rocket and Orion capsule.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other dignitaries attended the ceremony. Trump also announced plans to establish a US Space Academy for the Space Force, Nasa, and the commercial space sector.
The astronauts helped pave the way for Artemis III's planned orbital docking rehearsal next year. Artemis IV could carry two astronauts to the lunar south pole as early as 2028. Trump said Americans will return to the moon before his term ends, with Mars to follow "very shortly."
Isaacman praised the four as "intrepid space heroes," while stressing that many others contributed to the mission.
Only 30 astronauts had received the prestigious medal before Artemis II. Neil Armstrong was its first recipient. Other honorees included Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Frank Borman, and SpaceX astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.
Dozens of astronauts attended Friday's ceremony, including 91-year-old Apollo 17 moonwalker Harrison Schmitt and the Artemis III crew.
NASA plans to establish a sustainable lunar base near the south pole, where permanently shadowed craters may contain frozen water that could be used for drinking water and rocket fuel. China is also targeting the region, prompting Nasa Deputy Administrator Matthew Anderson to say, "The second space race has begun."
At the end of the ceremony, the Artemis II crew gave Trump a blue flight jacket with space patches, fulfilling a promise made after their mission.
Trump later went to Mission Control and spoke with three US astronauts aboard the International Space Station, telling them about the new academy and briefly handing the phone to two of their spouses.
