January 1, Trump to Award Highest Space Honor to Crew Who Shattered Apollo Record

Wyatt’s Take

• President Trump is honoring four astronauts who flew farther from Earth than any humans in history — shattering a 55-year-old Apollo 13 record during the Artemis II mission around the moon.
• The crew traveled over 252,000 miles from home, tested critical systems for future lunar landings, and brought America back to the forefront of space exploration after years of decline.
• This isn’t just about medals — it’s about reclaiming American leadership in space while China and Russia scramble to catch up, and proving we can still do big, bold things when leaders prioritize national greatness over woke bureaucracy.

President Donald Trump will present the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four astronauts who just made history on humanity’s farthest journey from Earth. The ceremony takes place August 28 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will receive the nation’s highest space honor for their record-breaking Artemis II mission around the moon.

The crew made history in April aboard the first crewed flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. It was the first mission to take astronauts around the moon in more than half a century.

At their farthest point, the astronauts traveled 252,756 miles from Earth — crushing the human spaceflight distance record set by Apollo 13 back in 1970. They covered 695,081 miles during their nearly 10-day mission.

The journey started April 1 when NASA’s Space Launch System rocket thundered off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida with 8.8 million pounds of thrust. After testing Orion’s systems in space, the crew headed toward the moon and passed within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface during an April 6 flyby.

The astronauts captured more than 7,000 images along the way. They documented earthrise and earthset, lunar craters, ancient lava flows, and even a solar eclipse seen from Orion. The crew also reported meteoroid impact flashes on the moon’s night side.

Orion returned to Earth on April 10, screaming into the atmosphere at roughly 25,000 mph before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off California.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said after the crew’s return that the astronauts had accepted “significant risk” while testing the spacecraft and systems intended to carry future crews deeper into space.

“The NASA leadership team was in Mission Control, alongside the flight control team, watching as the Artemis II crew crossed that historic threshold and became the explorers that ventured farthest from Earth,”

Isaacman told Fox News Digital.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Artemis II captivated the world, inspired a generation, and gave us the confidence to press on as America returns to the Moon to build a base and to stay.”

The Congressional Space Medal of Honor has roots in the Apollo era. Congress authorized it in 1969, declaring that America’s space program relied on the “intelligence, the dedication, the bravery, and the self-sacrifice” of astronauts who flew missions into the “hostile environment of space.”

Under the law, the president may award the medal in the name of Congress to astronauts who distinguish themselves through exceptionally meritorious efforts and contributions to the welfare of the nation and mankind.

NASA says the medal has been awarded to only a “very select group” of astronauts. Its official list includes 30 recipients, among them Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell. Armstrong was among six astronauts who received the medal from President Jimmy Carter on October 1, 1978.

The four Artemis II astronauts would bring the number of recipients to 34.

Artemis II also served as a stepping stone toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface. NASA said the crew tested Orion’s life-support systems, manually piloted the spacecraft, and gathered data intended to prepare for future missions.

NASA plans to test commercial lunar lander operations during Artemis III in low Earth orbit in 2027. The agency is targeting Artemis IV for the program’s first lunar landing in 2028.

The agency says Artemis ultimately aims to establish an enduring human presence on the moon and lay the groundwork for sending astronauts to Mars.

“Artemis III is the next mission up in that campaign, but it will be in 2028 during Artemis IV, when NASA astronauts will once again walk on the Moon,”

Isaacman said.

Wyatt Matters

While other countries throw money at their space programs, America just reminded the world what happens when you combine courage, engineering excellence, and real leadership. These astronauts risked everything to push the boundaries of human achievement — not for Instagram likes or diversity metrics, but for national glory and scientific progress. That’s the America working families remember and want back. Trump honoring these heroes sends a message: we’re done apologizing for American exceptionalism, and we’re headed back to the moon to stay.