Artemis II astronauts awarded Congressional Space Medal of Honor for lunar milestone

The Artemis II crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—will receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor on August 28 for their historic lunar flyby, which set a record distance from Earth (~406,771 km / 252,756 miles) during a 10-day mission. The ceremony will be at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, a nod to a select group of astronauts who have earned the honor. The award followed a recommendation to President Trump, and comes amid ongoing NASA budget discussions; the Artemis II milestones echo the legacy of Armstrong and Glenn, with Hurley and Behnken the most recent prior recipients.