President Donald Trump (L) congratulated the four-person Artemis II crew (R) on Monday, April 6, for traveling the farthest distance from Earth.
Artemis II Latest Updates: Trump Joins Historic Moment, Calls Crew After Lunar Flyby
President Donald Trump lauded the Artemis II astronauts after their historic lunar flyby on Monday, April 6, 2026.
NASA's Artemis II mission launched on April 1 at 6:35 p.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four astronauts are on a 10-day journey that will cover about 685,000 miles, flying around the Moon in what is called a lunar flyby.
On Day 6 of the mission on Monday, Artemis II concluded the historic seven-hour lunar flyby, making it humankind's first return to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The spaceflight also captured images of the lunar far side.
President Donald J. Trump Speaks With NASA's Artemis II Astronauts
Shortly after the successful lunar flyby, President Trump congratulated the crew, which aired as a part of NASA's continuous live coverage of the mission. The POTUS also invited the four-person crew featuring CSA (Canadian Space Agency) Astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Victoria Glover to the Oval Office after their return to Earth.
"Today you've made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud," Trump said. "We have a lot of things to be proud of lately, but this is, there's nothing like what you're doing circling around the moon for the first time in more than half a century and breaking the all-time record for the farthest distance from planet Earth." Trump then added, "I'll ask for your autograph ... I don't really ask for autographs much, but you deserve that.
Artemis II astronauts speak with President Donald Trump from their spacecraft.
"I look forward to having you in the Oval Office at the White House, and we will celebrate your incredible achievements and trials," he said.
Trump said that the U.S. will establish a "permanent presence on the moon" someday in the future. "We'll plant our flag once again, and this time we won't just leave footprints, we'll establish a permanent presence on the moon, and we'll push on to Mars, that'll be very exciting. I'm waiting for that so much. I'd love to be here, but maybe we won't quite make it in terms of timing," he said.
Artemis II Crew Proposes Moon Crater Be Named After Commander's Late Wife
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed mission to travel near the Moon in more than 50 years. Four astronauts are flying aboard the Orion spacecraft on a 10-day trip around the Moon to test important systems needed for future missions. The spacecraft will loop around the Moon and return to Earth without landing.
On Monday, the Artemis II crew shared an emotional moment as they proposed to name a newly discovered crater on the Moon after mission Commander Reid Wiseman's wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who died of cancer in 2020.
The Artemis II crew names a lunar crater after Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.
According to Astronomy, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen told NASA's Kelsey Young, "A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one. And there is a feature in a really neat place on the Moon, and it is on the nearside/farside boundary. In fact, it's just on the nearside of that boundary, and so at certain times of the Moon's transit around Earth, we will be able to see this from Earth."
"And so we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie. And if you want to find this one, you look at Glushko, and it's just to the northwest of that, at the same latitude as Ohm, and it's a bright spot on the Moon. And we would like to call it Carroll." The emotional crew then shared a hug.
The Orion spacecraft is now journeying back to Earth after flying past the back side of the Moon.