Trump Calls the Artemis II Astronauts, Apr. 7, 2026
April 7, 2026 · The White House · 0:03:00
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
President Donald Trump spoke with the four Artemis II astronauts on April 7, 2026, after the crew’s pass around the far side of the Moon, in a call carried live from space by the White House. “A very special hello to Artemis 2 today. You’ve made history and made all America really proud. Incredibly proud,” he said. “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.” He saluted each crew member by name and thanked “the entire amazing team at NASA headed by Jared, who’s a very special guy” — Administrator Jared Isaacman.
He framed the flight as a way station: “Your mission paves the way for America’s return to the lunar surface very soon. We’re going all out… 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.” The Artemis crew, he noted, “flew in the most powerful rocket NASA has ever made, ever launched, traveled over a quarter of a million miles, broke the distance record set by the legendary Apollo 13.” He closed: “America will be second to none in space and everything else that we’re doing, and we will continue to lead the whole thing into the stars.”
Why it matters
The call is the President’s on-record greeting to the first crew to travel to the Moon’s vicinity in over fifty years, and it carries his stated program in one passage: return to the lunar surface, a permanent presence, then Mars. It is recorded on the Education hub alongside this chronicle’s other Artemis II pages, including the crew’s splashdown-week events.
Scoreboard watch
The commitments as stated by the President — a lunar-surface return “very soon,” a permanent Moon presence, and a push on to Mars — are recorded here as the program’s stated trajectory.
Sources: The White House, “LIVE FROM SPACE: President Trump Calls Artemis II Astronauts,” April 7, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President on the call.
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