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Trump meets Artemis II crew, jokes about going to space as NASA eyes 2028 Moon landing

Trump meets Artemis II crew, jokes about going to space as NASA eyes 2028 Moon landing

U.S. President Donald Trump greets NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and the Artemis II astronauts, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency), in the Oval Office of the White House on April 29, 2026 in Washington, DC Photograph: (AFP)

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US President Donald Trump hosts Artemis II astronauts at the Oval Office, praises their courage and jokes about space travel as NASA targets a 2028 Moon mission.

US President Donald Trump hosted the crew of the lunar flyby mission Artemis II in the Oval Office on Wednesday, April 29. Four astronauts, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen joined the US President in celebrating the success of this mission. During the meeting attention Trump praised the “courage” of the crew and simultaneously enquired about the US President's chances of space travelling.

“We’re very proud of these people. They have unbelievable courage, unbelievable a lot of other things too,” praising the astronauts, then immediately praising himself, “To get in there, you have to be very smart, have to do a lot of things physically good. So I would have had no trouble making it; I’m physically very, very good. Maybe a little bit of a problem. We’ll have to try it.”

Trump then asked the NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, “Is a president allowed to go up in one of these missions?” He responded, “We can get working on that, Mr President.”

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When asked whether he thought America would send another astronaut to walk on the moon, the President expressed optimism. "Well, we have a shot at it. I mean, we don't like to say definitely, because then you say, 'Oh, we failed. We failed,' because we're I think we could say we're ahead of schedule. So we have a — we have a good shot. We've authorised it. And I think with this team, and you know, with Jared, who has done such an amazing job at NASA, I think we have a good shot,” Trump said.

NASA Administrator Jared Issacman, "We're going to launch Artemis III in 2027. We'll protect for up to two opportunities in 2028 to return astronauts to the surface."

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Artemis II launched on April 1 and returned to Earth on April 10. They went on an epic journey around the moon and back. They were the first people to leave Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972, and they got farther from their home planet than anyone ever has before, breaking the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

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Kushal Deb

Kushal Deb is a mid-career journalist with seven years of experience and a strong academic background. Passionate about research, storytelling, writes about economics, policy, cult...Read More