League City resident and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover will receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump on Friday, Aug. 28, at Johnson Space Center, NASA announced.

The ceremony, set for 10 a.m. CDT, will honor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen for their 10-day flight around the Moon that ended with a Pacific Ocean splashdown on April 10. The crew traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history and were the first to fly beyond the Moon in more than 50 years.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will join the president and astronauts at the event, which will be livestreamed at nasa.gov/live.

The medal is the nation's highest space honor. Congress authorized it in 1969, and the president awards it on the NASA administrator's recommendation. Only 30 astronauts had received it before this ceremony, according to NASA's history page. Past recipients include Neil Armstrong, John Glenn and Alan Shepard. The most recent awards went to Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on Jan. 31, 2023.

Glover, a U.S. Navy captain who lives in League City with his family, became the first Black astronaut to fly to the Moon on the mission. Koch became the first woman, and Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen to make the journey.

The crew's April homecoming drew a visible outpouring from the community. League City residents lined streets with signs, costumes and flags on April 13 to welcome Glover back. Speaking to neighbors gathered outside his home that day, Glover said: "Some of us have never met before and you know whose fault that is? Ours. So, let's choose to do this. Let's be this more. Let's be neighbors."

Clear Creek ISD also celebrated the mission, with students and staff marking splashdown day in what the district called a tribute to its "NASA neighbors."

At a public event at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, on Aug. 3, Glover described one of the mission's most dramatic moments: manually piloting the Orion spacecraft during a rendezvous demonstration in lunar orbit. He said he remains amazed that the Artemis II team trusted the crew to fly that way.

Upcoming

  • Friday, Aug. 28, 10 a.m. CDT: Congressional Space Medal of Honor ceremony at Johnson Space Center. Livestream available at nasa.gov/live. Media credentialing requests are due by 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 25.