President Donald Trump will award the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four astronauts who flew farther from Earth than any humans in history during this year's Artemis II mission around the moon. NASA announced the ceremony will take place Aug. 28 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, honoring NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The crew made history in April aboard Artemis II, the first crewed flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft and the first mission to take astronauts around the moon in more than half a century. At their farthest point, the crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the human spaceflight distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. The astronauts covered 695,081 miles during their nearly 10-day mission.
Their voyage began April 1, when NASA's Space Launch System rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with 8.8 million pounds of thrust. After testing Orion's systems in space, the crew headed toward the moon and passed within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface during an April 6 flyby. The astronauts captured more than 7,000 images along the way, including views of earthrise and earthset, lunar craters, ancient lava flows and a solar eclipse seen from Orion. NASA said the crew also reported meteoroid impact flashes on the moon's night side.
Orion returned to Earth on April 10, entering the atmosphere at roughly 25,000 mph before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off California. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said after the crew's return that the astronauts had accepted significant risk while testing the spacecraft and systems intended to carry future crews deeper into space.
The medal has roots in the Apollo era. Congress authorized the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1969, declaring that America's space program relied on the intelligence, dedication, bravery and self-sacrifice of astronauts who flew missions into the hostile environment of space. Under the law, the president may award the medal in the name of Congress to astronauts who distinguish themselves through exceptionally meritorious efforts and contributions to the welfare of the nation and mankind.
NASA says the medal has been awarded to only a very select group of astronauts. Its official list includes 30 recipients, among them Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell. Armstrong was among six astronauts who received the medal from President Jimmy Carter on Oct. 1, 1978. The four Artemis II astronauts would bring the number of recipients to 34.
Artemis II also served as a stepping stone toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface. NASA said the crew tested Orion's life-support systems, manually piloted the spacecraft and gathered data intended to prepare for future missions. NASA plans to test commercial lunar lander operations during Artemis III in low Earth orbit in 2027 and is targeting Artemis IV for the program's first lunar landing in 2028. The agency says Artemis ultimately aims to establish an enduring human presence on the moon and lay the groundwork for sending astronauts to Mars.
Isaacman said the NASA leadership team was in Mission Control alongside the flight control team, watching as the Artemis II crew crossed that historic threshold and became the explorers that ventured farthest from Earth. He said the astronauts were aware and monitoring their spacecraft systems, and that under Trump's leadership, Artemis II captivated the world, inspired a generation and gave the nation confidence to press on as America returns to the moon to build a base and to stay. Artemis III is the next mission up in that campaign, but it will be in 2028 during Artemis IV, when NASA astronauts will once again walk on the moon.