President Trump will present the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four astronauts who flew farther from Earth than any humans before them.
NASA announced that Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will receive the medal on August 28 at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The 11 a.m. EDT ceremony will feature the president and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. It streams live at nasa.gov/live.
The crew completed their 10-day Artemis II mission on April 10, 2026. They became the first people to travel beyond the Moon in more than 50 years and the first to fly NASA’s Orion spacecraft. At their farthest point they reached 252,756 miles from Earth, beating the Apollo 13 mark of 248,655 miles set in 1970.
A Rare and Historic Distinction
Only about 30 astronauts have received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor since Congress authorized it in 1969. Recipients include Neil Armstrong and John Glenn. The president awards it on the NASA administrator’s recommendation for exceptional contributions to the nation and humankind. The last living recipients were Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in 2023 for the first commercial crew flight to orbit.
Isaacman recommended the Artemis II crew. “There were no greater ambassadors to the stars than Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy,” he told NASA staff. “They showed the world the moon again.”
The mission delivered multiple firsts. Glover became the first Black astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Koch was the first woman. Hansen was the first non-American and first Canadian to do so. Their flight tested Orion systems for future lunar landings and longer deep-space trips under the Artemis program.
AI Disclosure: This article was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools and was reviewed and edited by the Glowls News editorial team before publication.