Artemis II Astronauts Honoured After Historic Journey Around the Moon
By Science Correspondent
Four astronauts who travelled farther from Earth than any humans before them have been honoured with one of the highest awards in space exploration.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Donald J. Trump at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday.
The award recognises astronauts whose bravery and achievements have made an exceptional contribution to the nation and humanity.
The honour follows the crew’s historic Artemis II mission, which launched on April 1 and returned safely to Earth on April 10.
Flying aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, the four astronauts travelled around the Moon and reached 252,756 miles from Earth — breaking the previous human spaceflight distance record set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970.
In total, the journey covered 695,081 miles.
President Trump praised the astronauts and the thousands of engineers, scientists and other specialists who helped bring them safely home.
For the crew, the achievement was very much a team effort.
Wiseman, who commanded Artemis II, described flying around the Moon with his crewmates as “the honour of my lifetime”, while Glover said piloting Orion on its first crewed flight was a “profound honour”.
Koch said the crew accepted the medal on behalf of everyone who helped make the mission possible, from factory workers and engineers to mission control teams.
Hansen highlighted the international nature of the mission, saying Artemis II showed what humanity can accomplish when countries work together towards ambitious goals.
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Artemis II was the first crewed mission in NASA’s Artemis programme and is helping pave the way for future lunar missions.
The programme aims to return astronauts to the Moon, establish a lasting human presence there and eventually help prepare for journeys to Mars.
For now, the Artemis II crew can celebrate an achievement that has already secured their place in the history of human space exploration.
