President Trump to welcome Artemis II crew at the White House as he sets his sights on next space mission
Donald Trump announced that he will invite the Artemis II crew, who have just returned after their successful lunar mission, to the White House.
The president congratulated the four-person crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen shortly after their return to earth.
The group successfully touched down Friday night following its historic Moon mission, with the Orion raft taking a fiery dive into Earth’s atmosphere.
“Congratulations to Artemis II’s Large and Very Talented Crew,” he wrote on Truth Social.
‘The entire journey was amazing, the landing was perfect, and as President of the United States, I couldn’t be prouder!
‘I look forward to seeing you all at the White House soon. We’ll do this again and go to Mars next!’
After reaching speeds of 25,000 miles per hour, the spacecraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California.
It completed a ten-day mission that took the crew around the moon and farther than any human had ever traveled in space before.
NASA Artemis II crew, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover
Artemis II crew (in orange suits) are removed from their spacecraft after crashing into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California
This journey marked the first time in more than 50 years since the Apollo era that humans have traveled this far into space and examined the lunar surface with the naked eye.
During the mission, astronauts passed behind the moon, flying over the mysterious far side, often referred to as the dark side of the moon because it is not constantly facing Earth.
The historic flight also broke the decades-old distance record set in 1970 during Apollo 13, when astronauts traveled 248,655 miles from Earth.
Artemis II surpassed this milestone by thousands of kilometers, setting a new distance record for human spaceflight.
NASA administrators confirmed the Artemis II flight crew was ‘happy and healthy’. They added that the astronauts were ready to return to Houston.
Rick Henfling, NASA’s entry flight director for Artemis II, was beaming as he made his remarks, describing the mission as “spectacular.”
NASA program manager Howard Hu added that Artemis II is the “beginning of a new era” in space exploration.
‘We accomplished what we set out to do,’ said Shawn Quinn, NASA’s Exploration Earth Systems Program manager, adding: ‘It’s good to be NASA, and it’s good to be American today.’
NASA deputy administrator Amit Kshatriya said tonight’s success was not luck, but the result of 100 people doing their job.
A young boy wearing an astronaut costume cheers next to a flag-waving woman as he watches a livestream of the Artemis II crew’s return to Earth at the San Diego Air and Space Museum
President says he hopes to welcome astronauts ‘soon’ as he eyes next Mars mission
“The path to the lunar surface is clear, but the work ahead is greater than the work behind us,” Kshatriya said.
‘Let’s go to stay, not to raise a flag.’
NASA deputy administrator Dr. Lori Glaze said her team was “thrilled” that the four astronauts returned home safely.
He added that this mission was the first of many to come.
