President Trump hosted the crew of Artemis II at the White House Wednesday, more than two weeks after they completed their historic lunar flyby mission.
"We have some people that have captivated the attention of the whole world, not just our country, the whole world, and they're very brave. And that was a lot of rocket under them. I never saw anything like that," President Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
The four-person team broke the record for the farthest distance traveled from Earth during their ten-day trip around the Moon.
"We're very proud of these people," the president added. "They have unbelievable courage."
When asked whether he thought America would send another astronaut to walk on the moon the President expressed optimism.
"Well, we have a shot at it. I mean, we don't like to say definitely, because then you say, 'Oh, we failed. We failed,' because we're I think we could say we're ahead of schedule. So we have a — we have a good shot. We've authorized it. And I think with this team, and you know, with Jared has done such an amazing job at NASA, I think we have a good shot,” Trump said.
"We're back in the business of launching Moon rockets with frequency," said NASA Administrator Jared Issacson. "We're going to launch Artemis III in 2027. We'll protect for up for two opportunities in 2028 to return astronauts to the surface."
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The distance covered during Artemis II’s voyage was not the only historic part of their journey. Each of the four crew members enshrined their own place in space travel history.
Commander Reid Weisman became the oldest person to travel beyond low Earth orbit and around the Moon. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen became the first non-U.S. citizen to travel to the Moon. Pilot Victor Glover became the first person of color to travel to the moon, and Christina Koch is the first woman to make the journey.
The Artemis II mission is the first time humans have gone back to the moon in more than 50 years, while capturing new, unprecedented images of the far side of Earth’s only natural satellite.
Hours after their flyby, while on the return trip back to the Earth, President Trump called in to congratulate the astronauts.
“Today, you've made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud,” Trump told the astronauts at the time. "We'll plant our flag once again, and this time we won't just leave footprints. We will establish a permanent presence on the moon, and we'll push on to Mars. That will be very exciting” Trump said.
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The crew’s visit comes days after the largest rocket section for the Artemis III mission arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Those pieces traveled more than 900 miles by boat, from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
Reporters pressed Trump Wednesday on whether he would consider relocating NASA’s Washington headquarters, or other facilities in states like Texas, Ohio and Florida.
Trump deferred to Isaacson.
"We have 10 amazing centers around the country that all kind of bubble up to contribute to the mission we're able to undertake, like Artemis II. I think it turned think in terms of the headquarters, we have a lot of people very interested in our mission. So being here in D.C. gives us the opportunity to kind of interact from all our stakeholders, make sure we make the right decisions for the nation” said Issacson.
