President Donald Trump beamed in to speak with NASA astronauts on their spacecraft after they circled the far side of the moon and began to head home to Earth.
The four crew members of the Artemis II mission traveled about 252,760 miles away from Earth in NASA’s closest encounter with the moon in more than 50 years.
The mission launched last Wednesday in what is expected to be a 10-day trip. As they passed behind the moon Monday, the astronauts had an expected 40-minute communications blackout, but later re-established contact with Mission Control.
After re-establishing communications with Earth the astronauts broadcast themselves checking in with Trump.
“You've made history and made all America incredibly proud,” the president said via audio communications. “There’s nothing like what you’re doing, circling around the moon for the first time in more than a half a century and breaking the all-time record for the farthest distance from planet Earth.”
As Trump sang the astronauts’ praises, they all fist-bumped each other.
The crew includes Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Most of the crew is American, besides Hansen, who is the first Canadian to ever travel to the Moon.
"Your mission paves the way for America's return to the lunar surface very soon,” Trump said. “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.”
Wiseman said Trump’s call was “special to all of us” and talked about the “amazing” trip he and his crew experienced so far.
“We can see the planet train line up...Mars. And all of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation and this planet become a two-planet species,” Wiseman said.
The ultimate goals of the Artemis program are for a long-term return to the moon and the first crewed missions to Mars.
But for now, NASA is focused on getting the four astronauts back home. It will take four days of space travel before the crew is expected to splash down in the Pacific Friday evening.
