President Donald Trump will travel to Johnson Space Center on Friday, Aug. 28, to personally award the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four Artemis II astronauts who flew humanity's farthest journey from Earth in April.
The 10 a.m. CDT ceremony will honor NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA announced. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will join the president and crew onstage.
For the Clear Lake area, the event carries extra local pride. Glover, the mission's pilot, is a League City resident and current Clear Creek ISD parent. The district cheered him on at launch, posting on X on April 1 that it was proud to support Glover as the crew made history.
The medal is the highest distinction the U.S. government can bestow on an astronaut. Congress authorized it in 1969, and only 30 astronauts have received it, including Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard and Jim Lovell. The Artemis II crew will bring the total to 34.
The last recipients were Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who received the medal from President Joe Biden in 2023 for their 2020 commercial crew flight. Despite its name, the medal is awarded by the president based on the NASA administrator's recommendation, according to CBS News.
What the crew accomplished
The Artemis II mission launched April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket, generating 8.8 million pounds of thrust. Over nearly 10 days, the crew tested the Orion spacecraft, flew within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface on April 6 and captured more than 7,000 images before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10.
At their farthest point, the astronauts traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. They covered 695,081 total miles, Fox News reported. No crew had gone farther.
It was the first crewed flight beyond the Moon in more than 50 years and the first time astronauts flew aboard Orion.
Commander Wiseman called the mission "the most special thing I ever went through in my life" at the crew's welcome-home event in Houston on April 11, as reported by BBC News.
How to watch
The ceremony will stream live on multiple platforms starting at 10 a.m. CDT on Friday, Aug. 28. Viewers can find links at nasa.gov/live.
As we reported Aug. 21, the next Artemis crew is already training at JSC. NASA plans Artemis III in 2027 and the first lunar landing mission, Artemis IV, in 2028.
Coming up
- Friday, Aug. 28, 10 a.m. CDT — Congressional Space Medal of Honor ceremony at Johnson Space Center; livestream at nasa.gov/live
- Sept. 4 — Clear Lake Shores boat ramp reopens after eight-month rebuild
