Artemis II Crew Receives Congressional Space Medal of Honor

The four astronauts who flew around the Moon earlier this year have been awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the highest space accolade in the United States. President Donald Trump presented the medals during a ceremony held at Houston's Johnson Space Center on Friday.

The crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canada's Jeremy Hansen — completed their lunar flyby in April, setting a new distance record for humanity. Their mission marked the first time astronauts had travelled to the Moon in over fifty years.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other dignitaries attended the two-hour event at the facility that houses Mission Control. Trump described the four as "intrepid space heroes," while also acknowledging the broader effort behind the Artemis II mission.

The crew now joins an exclusive list of 30 other astronauts who have received the honour, a tradition that began with Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong, the first person to step on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

During the ceremony, the President also announced the creation of a U.S. Space Academy, intended to serve the Space Force, NASA, and the commercial space community.