President Donald Trump decorated the astronauts of the Artemis II mission: "It is a very rare distinction. It is awarded to brave and brilliant individuals."

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, honored the astronauts of the Artemis II mission on Friday, who performed a flight around the Moon in April 2026, setting a new distance record from Earth.

The ceremony took place at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Trump emphasized the importance of the distinction awarded to the crew consisting of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen.

They were the first humans to fly around the Moon since 1972, and their mission marked a historic first, including a woman, a Black astronaut, and a non-American citizen.

The Artemis II mission was a test for NASA's new lunar rocket and the Orion capsule, part of the Artemis program, which aims to build a base on the Moon and prepare for future missions to Mars.

Trump reiterated that American astronauts will return to the Moon by 2028, despite concerns expressed by experts regarding the feasibility of this goal, considering the development of landing modules.