Trump to honor Artemis II crew with nation’s top space medal

President Trump plans to award the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission, CBS News has learned.

A White House official confirmed the award will be presented Friday, Aug. 28, at Joint Reserve Base Ellington in Houston.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, became the first humans to travel around the moon in more than a half-century during a 10-day mission. They splashed down safely to end the record-breaking flight on April 10.

Only 30 astronauts have received the medal, including Neil Armstrong and John Glenn, according to NASA. Astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire and the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters received the medal posthumously.

The last astronauts awarded the medal were Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who in 2020 became the first to launch to orbit on a commercial spacecraft. President Joe Biden awarded them the medal in 2023.

Despite its name, the medal is awarded by the president based on recommendations from the NASA administrator. Congress has authorized the president to present, in the name of Congress, a medal to any astronaut who has “distinguished himself by exceptionally meritorious efforts and contributions to the welfare of the Nation and of mankind,” according to NASA.