Artemis II crew visits with Trump in the Oval Office

by · UPI

April 29 (UPI) -- Artemis II astronauts visited the White House on Wednesday to meet with President Donald Trump, who praised their bravery.

"You captivated the attention of the whole world, not just our country, the whole world," Trump said to the four crew members. "They have a lot of rocket under them. I don't know how they do it. I wouldn't wanna do it. It takes people like this to make our country great."

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen flew around the moon earlier this month, traveling the farthest from Earth that any human has before.

During their flight home from the moon, Trump called the crew on April 6 and invited them to the White House. They also attended the State of the Union address in February.

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Trump also congratulated NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on the mission.

"Is a president allowed to go up on one of these missions?" Trump jokingly asked Isaacman.

"We can get working on that," Isaacman said.

"We'll have to try it," the president said.

A reporter asked Trump if astronauts will walk on the moon while he is still in office.

"We have a shot at it. We're ahead of schedule," Trump replied.

Isaacman responded: "We have an achievable plan. We're back in the business of launching moon rockets."

Artemis III, NASA's next human mission in the Artemis program, is scheduled for 2027. The mission will be a test flight in which a new group of astronauts will dock in Earth's orbit with a commercial lunar lander that's now in development by SpaceX and Blue Origin.

NASA is hoping to have astronauts land on the moon in 2028.

Artemis II crew returns to Earth

NASA's Orion spacecraft, with the four-member Artemis II crew aboard, is seen under parachutes as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Friday after its nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back. NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI | License Photo