Canadian Jeremy Hansen on Friday became the first non-NASA astronaut to receive the U.S. Congressional Space Medal of Honor during a ceremony that honoured the crew of the Artemis II for their historic lunar fly-by earlier this year.
U.S. President Donald Trump awarded the medals to Hansen and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.
Trump highlighted Hansen’s role as the first non-American to travel so far into space while serving as Artemis II’s mission specialist, before presenting him the medal with a pat on the back and a handshake.
“We honour a master of science and physics, a fighter pilot — a great one — and a beloved member of the astronaut team,” Trump said.
The president called the astronauts “four intrepid space heroes.”
After the crew received their medals, mission commander Reid Wiseman highlighted the work of the many people who made Artemis II possible.
“It is not pride for ourselves that we feel, and I truly mean that. It is pride for the grit that our families had when we left this planet. It is pride for this NASA team that sent us on this mission. And it is pride for the international community that stood alongside us, got this vehicle ready, operated it, and cheered us on,” he said.
The four-person crew completed a historic 10-day mission around the moon on April 10, becoming the first humans to travel beyond the moon in more than 50 years and travelling further in space than any humans before.
They were also the first astronauts to fly aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which is expected to be utilized for future Artemis missions.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other dignitaries took part in the packed ceremony at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, home to Mission Control.
Trump used the occasion to announce the creation of a U.S. Space Academy for the Space Force, as well as NASA and the commercial space community.
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“Space is the hot thing,” the president told the crowd, adding that the academy’s location has yet to be determined.
Trump vowed that Americans will land back on the moon before his term ends. Mars is next — “very shortly,” he said.
Hansen, who is also a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, announced on July 6 that he would be leaving the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to transition to becoming a reservist.
This means he will be allowed to have jobs outside the air force but will also be permitted to work with the Canadian Armed Forces when the need arises.
“This September, after 32 years of military service and 17 years as a Canadian Space Agency astronaut — culminating in the incredible privilege of flying around the Moon on Artemis II—I will be transitioning from my full-time role at the CSA,” Hansen said in a social media post.
NASA unveiled its Artemis III crew on June 9, which is anticipated to be the next step in the space agency’s plan to eventually land astronauts on the moon.
NASA’s Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas and the European Space Agency’s Luca Parmitano won’t fly to the moon or land on the surface. Instead, they’ll orbit Earth while practising docking their Orion capsule with two lunar landers.
Only 30 astronauts have received the prestigious Congressional Space Medal of Honor before the Artemis II crew. Many of the recipients were honoured posthumously following their tragic spaceflight-related deaths.
Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon in 1969, was the first to receive the medal in 1978.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter awarded five more medals that same year, which also went to Alan Shepard, the first American in space; John Glenn, the first American in orbit; and Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman, whose 1968 mission marked humanity’s first lunar voyage.
The most recent recipients were Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, the first astronauts to launch aboard a SpaceX rocket in a 2020 test flight to the International Space Station that restored America’s ability to launch crews from home soil. U.S. President Joe Biden awarded them the medals in 2023.
—With files from the Canadian Press and the Associated Press
“FDonny
August 28, 2026 at 2:49 pm
If I was him, I wouldn’t go. Wonder if he did?”
Found another brain dead moron.
“Amy and Fred
August 28, 2026 at 7:40 pm
It would not be an honor to receive anything from that jolt.”
Its from the US Congress…
Anyone else got something stupid to say?
“Anonymous
August 29, 2026 at 9:40 am
That mission didn’t happen it was a fraud”
That mission didn’t happen it was a fraud
Hope he washed his hands after that handshake
It would not be an honor to receive anything from that jolt.
I did not see a handshake between Trump and Jeremy. Jeremy has class. I admire him at many levels.
America never put a man on the moon. Only a fool believes a liar. Open your eyes.
If I was him, I wouldn’t go. Wonder if he did?
Will Jeremy have to pay a tariff on the medal?
They certainly deserve it far more than the pathetic little trolls who will criticize it
Dumpy pants is actually giving a medal to a Canadian?? What??