{"id":43475,"date":"2026-04-07T04:22:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=43475"},"modified":"2026-04-07T04:22:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:22:59","slug":"trump-congratulates-artemis-ii-crew-following-historic-trip-around-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=43475","title":{"rendered":"Trump congratulates Artemis II crew following historic trip around the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>President Trump chatted with the crew of Artemis II Monday night <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/06\/us-news\/artemis-ii-flys-by-moon-in-first-historic-look-at-the-lunar-dark-side\/\">following their historic moon flyby<\/a>, hailing the astronauts as \u201cmodern-day pioneers\u201d and inviting them to the White House.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud,\u201d Trump told the four astronauts just hours after they emerged from the far side of the moon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The president lauded the Artemis II crew \u2014 Cmdr. Reid Wiseman, specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen and pilot Victor Glover \u2014 for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/06\/us-news\/artemis-ii-astronauts-travel-further-from-earth-than-any-humans-in-history-breaking-apollo-13-record-set-over-50-years-ago\/\">breaking the all-time record<\/a>\u201d for human travel beyond Earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHumans have really never seen anything quite like what you\u2019re doing in a manned spacecraft,\u201d Trump marveled. \u201cIt\u2019s really special.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>President Trump congratulates the Artemis II astronauts after their historic trip around the moon, calling them \u201cmodern-day pioneers.\u201d  <span class=\"credit\">NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The commander in chief was introduced to the crew by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who noted the president \u201cwanted to be the first person to greet you after your return from the far side of the moon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI just wanted to honor to speak to you, and I wanted to congratulate each and every one of you,\u201d the president said, likening the Artemis II astronauts to \u201cmodern-day pioneers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trump also peppered the crew with questions about their trip.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman introduced Trump to the crew, noting that the president \u201cwanted to be the first person to greet you after your return from the far side of the moon.\u201d\u00a0 <span class=\"credit\">NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Live view from the Orion spacecraft at 5:20 p.m. ET on Monday. <span class=\"credit\">NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cTell me what is the most unforgettable part of this really historic day? The whole world is watching and listening. Please tell me,\u201d he urged.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cmdr. Reid Wiseman told Trump it was \u201cseeing all the sights that we\u2019ve seen from Earth for all of our lives, but seeing them from a different perspective,\u201d as well as catching a glimpse of sites on the dark side of the moon that \u201cno human has ever seen before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mission Specialist Christina Koch explained that for her, the most exciting part was seeing Earth \u201cafter being out of communication for about 45 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really just reminds you what a special place we have,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Cmdr. Reid Wiseman shows an image of the moon taking on his cellphone during Artemis II\u2019s historic flyby.  <span class=\"credit\">NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Trump asked the crew what it felt like <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/06\/science\/artemis-ii-will-face-40-minute-blackout-on-far-side-of-moon\/\">having \u201czero communication\u201d with NASA<\/a> while on the far side of the moon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said a little prayer,\u201d pilot Victor Glover responded, \u201cbut I had to keep rolling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was actually recording scientific observations of the far side of the moon \u2026 We were busy up here working really hard,\u201d Glover explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The president then inquired if the astronauts noted any differences between the far and near sides of the moon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Trump invited the Artemis II crew to the White House once they\u2019re back on Earth. <span class=\"credit\">Yuri Gripas\/POOL via CNP\/INSTARimages.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Trump also peppered the astronauts with questions about their historic mission.  <span class=\"credit\">NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe certainly did,\u201d said Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, who explained that the gravitational pull of the Earth creates dramatic differences between the lunar landscapes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trump informed Hansen, who is Canadian, that he spoke with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and relayed that both are proud of his inclusion in the mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not sure if they\u2019d want to do that,\u201d the president quipped.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Before the call wrapped, Trump invited the entire crew of Artemis II to White House, and they eagerly accepted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI look forward to seeing you in the Oval Office,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI\u2019ll ask Jared [Isaacman] to bring you over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll ask for your autograph because \u2014 I don\u2019t really ask for autographs much, but you deserve that \u2014 you really are something,\u201d the president added. <\/p>\n<p>The astronauts\u2019 journey back to Earth will take four days, with the capsule expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego around 8:07 p.m. ET Friday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/06\/us-news\/trump-congratulates-artemis-ii-crew-following-historic-trip-around-the-moon\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump chatted with the crew of Artemis II Monday night following their historic moon flyby, hailing the astronauts as \u201cmodern-day pioneers\u201d and inviting them to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}