President Trump honored the four Artemis II astronauts in the Oval Office on Wednesday, celebrating their trailblazing lunar flyby.
“They’re very brave,” Mr. Trump said of the four astronauts. “I don’t know how they do it. I wouldn’t want to do it, but it takes people like this to make our country great again.
“They have unbelievable courage,” he continued.
The astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — completed a stunning flyby over the moon’s far side on April 6. They returned to earth on April 10, making a water landing near the coast of California.
NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch attended the Oval Office event along with the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also attended the event.
The far side of the moon is rarely seen by scientists.
The astronauts were at Mr. Trump’s State of the Union speech at the end of February and the president also called them from Earth after they completed the historic lunar flyby. At that time, the president called them “modern-day pioneers.”
NASA’s Artemis lunar program is part of the space agency’s ambitious campaign to return American astronauts to the surface of the moon for the first time since the Apollo era came to an end in 1972.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said a lunar landing could occur before the end of his second term.
“I think we have a good shot,” Mr. Trump said of a potential moon landing.
The next human mission under the Artemis program, Artemis III, is scheduled for 2027. Instead of going near the moon, it will serve as a test flight in which a new crew of astronauts aboard an Orion capsule will dock in Earth orbit with at least one of the commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
A potential human moon landing could occur in 2028 during the Artemis IV mission, which would be the first of several trips to the surface. NASA has signaled its desire to construct a moon base for astronauts to live and work while they prepare for the first crewed mission to Mars.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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