President Donald Trump pinned Congressional Space Medals of Honor on the four Artemis II astronauts at Johnson Space Center in Webster on Friday, Aug. 28, then signed an executive order creating a U.S. Space Academy.
Friendswood resident Reid Wiseman, the mission's commander, was among the honorees. NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen also received the medal, one of the nation's highest honors for astronauts.
Trump stood before NASA's astronaut corps inside JSC, Houston Public Media reported. He called the crew heroes who are inspiring the next generation of astronauts and pioneers.
"We wanted to inspire this nation to learn," Wiseman said during the ceremony, recalling a phone call Trump placed to the crew while they were tens of thousands of miles from Earth.
The four astronauts flew around the Moon aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft in April, completing a 10-day mission that made them the first humans in lunar territory since the 1970s. They set a new record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth. Only 30 astronauts had received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor before them, a group that includes Neil Armstrong, John Glenn and James Lovell.
Space Academy executive order
At the same ceremony, Trump signed an executive order titled "Establishing the United States Space Academy." The order creates a Presidential Commission chaired by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The commission has 120 days to deliver a report outlining the academy's location, curriculum, governing framework, service obligations for graduates and prerequisites for applicants.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president for science and technology, also sit on the commission.
Trump compared the planned academy to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He said it would serve the Space Force, NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry.
"I'm going to be choosing a location very shortly," Trump said. "I know where some people want it that are in this room."
He did not name a specific site. The remark drew attention at JSC, where NASA trains its astronaut corps.
Isaacman said in a NASA press release that the academy would educate the engineers, scientists, technicians and astronauts needed for future lunar surface missions, a planned moon base and an expanded orbital economy.
Local presence at the ceremony
Rep. Brian Babin, chairman of the House Science Committee and representative for Texas' 36th Congressional District, attended the ceremony. Babin said on X that the crew's achievement had inspired the nation and advanced American leadership in space.
As we reported Aug. 27, the ceremony had been announced earlier in the week. Trump had previously hosted the Artemis II crew at the White House following their April mission and called them during the flight.
The Congressional Space Medal of Honor has been awarded since 1978. Members of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia crews received the honor posthumously.
