Trump Awards Artemis II Crew Congressional Space Medal of Honor, Signs Order Creating US Space Academy

President Donald Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four Artemis II crew members — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen — at a ceremony at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 28, 2026, personally placing each medal around the astronauts' necks. The medal recognizes their April 1–10, 2026 mission, during which the crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, the farthest any humans have ever traveled, surpassing the 1970 Apollo 13 record. Fewer than 30 people have received the honor before them. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also spoke, saying "the Artemis II crew answered that call with extraordinary skill and courage." At the same event, Trump signed an executive order establishing the United States Space Academy, a new institution to train personnel for the Space Force, NASA, and the commercial space industry. The order creates a Presidential Commission on the U.S. Space Academy, chaired by the NASA Administrator with the Assistants to the President for Economic Policy and for Science and Technology as vice chairs, and gives the commission 120 days to recommend a governance structure, curriculum, degree programs, admission requirements, graduate service obligations, and a permanent site.