President Donald J. Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen during a ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday.

The Artemis II mission launched on April 1 and returned to Earth on April 10 after a six‑day flight. The crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth and a total distance of 695,081 miles, including a lunar flyby, surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

The medal, authorized by Congress in 1969 to recognize meritorious astronaut performance, has been awarded to 34 individuals, including the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, which received the honor posthumously.

Trump said the astronauts demonstrated courage that carried humanity farther from Earth than ever before. Administrator Jared Isaacman said the mission highlighted American leadership in space and praised the NASA workforce and international partners. Wiseman, the mission commander, said it was an honor to fly the spacecraft named Integrity and to see the mission’s legacy continue on Artemis III. Glover, the pilot, emphasized the teamwork that enabled the flight. Koch, the mission specialist, expressed gratitude to the teams that supported the mission. Hansen, also a mission specialist, noted the collaboration between Canada and the United States and the broader goals of the Artemis program.

Artemis II paved the way for Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, which will test Orion’s rendezvous and docking with commercial landing systems, and Artemis IV in 2028, planned to land astronauts on the lunar surface.

The award underscores NASA’s ongoing effort to return humans to the Moon and eventually send crewed missions to Mars.