Artemis II Crew Awarded Congressional Space Medal of Honor

President Donald Trump will award the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission during a ceremony on August 28 at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The crew, who completed a historic 10-day journey around the Moon earlier this year, will receive the nation's highest space honor for their record-breaking flight.

The Artemis II crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Their mission, which launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, marked the first crewed flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft and the first time astronauts traveled beyond the Moon in over half a century. During their voyage, the crew reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the human spaceflight distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. They safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10.

The Congressional Space Medal of Honor, authorized by Congress in 1969, is awarded by the president to astronauts who distinguish themselves through exceptionally meritorious efforts and contributions to the welfare of the nation and...