Donald Trump awarded the four Artemis II astronauts the Congressional Space Medal of Honor on Friday at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and signed an executive order to create a U.S. Space Academy. Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen were honored for their April lunar flyby, which made them the first astronauts to travel to the moon in more than half a century and set a new distance record for humanity. Only 30 astronauts had received the medal before them, among them Neil Armstrong and John Glenn, PBS NewsHour reported.
What will the Space Academy do? The order begins creating a new institution modeled on West Point and other top U.S. military service academies, Channel News Asia reported. Trump said the academy would help train the service members, engineers and civilian operators needed as the U.S. Space Force and the commercial space industry grow and Washington expands its ambitions on the moon and beyond. "It's called the U.S. Space Academy. That's a big deal," he said.
What about the moon and Mars? Trump also said NASA has begun work on what he called the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft, which he said is expected to launch on a mission to Mars in 2028, Channel News Asia reported. He said the vessel could be the first in a larger American fleet aimed at making space travel more routine. "A nation cannot be first on Earth if we're going to be second in space," he said. Trump said Americans will land back on the moon before his term ends, with Mars next "very shortly," PBS NewsHour reported.
What else happened at the ceremony? Dozens of astronauts attended, PBS NewsHour reported, including Apollo 17 moonwalker Harrison Schmitt, now 91, who called his mission, Apollo's last moonshot, the most productive lunar exploration yet, "soon to be surpassed by Artemis." "Space is the hot thing," Trump said, adding that the academy's location has yet to be determined. As the two-hour ceremony came to a close, the astronauts presented Trump with his own blue flight jacket complete with space patches, a promise they made while visiting him in the Oval Office following their mission. The president then went to Mission Control to call the three U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station, told them about the new academy and briefly handed the phone to two of their spouses.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
