TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Calls the Artemis II Astronauts After Lunar Flyby, 4.6.26
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Jared Isaacman: Artemis II crew, we have a very special guest who wanted to be the first person to greet you after your return from the far side of the moon. Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, it's my honor to introduce the President of the United States of America, President
President Trump: Over to you, sir. Well, thank you very much, Jared, and you are doing a fantastic job, and hello, very special hello to Artemis II. Today you've made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud. We have a lot of things to be proud of lately, but 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.
Humans have really never seen anything quite like what you're doing in a manned spacecraft, it's really special. I want to personally salute and congratulate Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, and I also want to thank the entire amazing team at NASA headed by Jared who's a very special guy, by the way, and you all made this day possible, and you've really inspired the entire world, really.
Everybody's watching. They find it incredible. I just watched you go to the back of the moon and people haven't been there in a long time, we can say, but it's going to be more and more prevalent because we're going to be doing a lot of traveling, and then you're going to ultimately do the whole big trip to Mars and that's going to be very exciting.
So you look and we had no astronaut has been to the moon since the days of Apollo program. The Apollo program was also very special, but that was 50 years ago. And at long last, America is back and America's back in many ways stronger than ever before with the hottest country anywhere in the world. The Artemis crew 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. And America is a frontier nation and the four brave astronauts of Artemis II are a modern day, you really are modern day pioneers, all of you.
And one of them happens to be a neighbor. You know who that is, right? You have a special person over there, a neighbor, and we like our neighbor. Your mission paves the way for America's return to the lunar surface very soon. We're going all out. We're doing everything we can, and it's headed up by Jared.
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. That'll be very exciting. I'm waiting for that so much. I'd love to be here, but maybe we won't quite make it in terms of timing, but we will be up in the moon and that's going to happen soon.
So 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, this incredible journey into the stars. So I just wanted, [Inaudible] an honor to speak to you and I wanted to congratulate each and every one of you. And tell me, what is the most unforgettable part of this really historic day?
The whole world is watching and listening, please tell me.
Reid Wiseman: [Mr.] President, this call is certainly special to all of us and we really have a lot of faith in our administrator, Jared Isaacman, who is with you. We appreciate his leadership in NASA and in the international community. We are doing great things and we are proud to be a part of... I have to tell you, as we came around the near side of the moon, seeing all the sights that we've seen from earth for all of our lives, but we're seeing them from a different perspective, and then we started to get a glimpse of the... and we saw sights, Orientale, sights that no human has ever seen before, not even in Apollo, and that was amazing for us. And then the surprise of the day, we just came out of an eclipse where the sun... moon and the entire dark moon about that big right out the window that we were watching.
We could see the corona of the sun and then we could 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.
Trump: That is fantastic. I had a decision to make in my first term and the decision is what are we going to do at NASA. Are we going to have it be revived or are we going to close it down? And I had very little hesitation and it's really great to have somebody like Jared involved because he really makes it much easier for me. But it was not even a question in my own mind.
We just, we've spent what we had to do. And then of course we have Space Force and Space Force is very much related to what you're doing, and that was my baby. That was a very important one, and it's turning out, it'll turn out to be truly one of the most important, I believe, decisions I've ever made. So we're very proud of Space Force and we're very proud of all of you. Does anybody else have anything to say? A lot of people listening.
Christina Koch: Mr. President, to be here with you speaking about our incredible day today. I think one of the biggest highlights was coming back from the far side of the moon and having the first glimpses of planet Earth again after being out of communication for about 45 minutes. It really just reminds you what a special place we have and how important it is for our nation [Inaudible] to lead and not follow in exploring deep space.
Trump: I'd like to ask, what was your feeling when you had no communication, zero communication? All of a sudden it was cut off by obviously your very special location. What was your feeling when you had no communication, a little bit different perhaps?
Victor Glover: Yes, Mr. President, it was... I said a little prayer, but then I had to keep rolling. I was actually recording scientific observations of the far side of the moon. That is actually the time when we were the [Inaudible] and the closest to the moon, and so we were really able to make some of our most detailed observations of the far side of the moon up close.
And so we were busy up here working really hard and I must say it was actually quite nice.
Trump: Did you see a difference, a big difference between the far side of the moon and the near side of the moon? Was there a difference in feel or difference in look? What did you see?
Jeremy Hansen: Well, Mr. President, we certainly did, and our [Inaudible] team really set us up well to understand what they thought we might see. And the gravitational pull of the earth has had a profound effect on the near side of the moon, changing all those dark mares, those dark patches of the moon you see from earth.
It's very different on the far side. While you see some small patches of those mare in deep craters, it's very much absent on that side, so that's really neat. And while I have the microphone, sir, I just want to thank you on behalf of Canada. The space leadership you spoke of from America truly is extraordinary.
I've said this many times before, a nation that leads like that and then creates and sets big goals for humanity that brings other countries along with it is truly incredible. And I know that's a very intentional, not a necessary decision, intentional decision to lead by example and to allow other countries like Canada to share our gifts and help you achieve these mutually beneficial goals, like establishing a presence on the moon and eventually going to Mars, and Canadians are so proud to be a part of this program.
Trump: Well, I have to say, I spoke to a very special person, Wayne Gretzky, who I think you know, the great one, and I spoke to your prime minister and many other friends I have in Canada, they are so proud of you and you have a lot of courage. I'm not sure if they'd want to do that. I'm not even sure if the great one would want to do that, to be honest with you, but you have a lot of courage doing what you're doing, a lot of bravery and a lot of genius, but they're very, very proud of you.
Wiseman: Administrator Isaacman, just get a quick com check, make sure you guys are still on the line and we didn't have a handover.
Trump: I am. Yes, I am.
Isaacman: And [Inaudible] Integrity and back over to you, Mr. President.
Trump: Yeah, I think we might have gotten cut off. It is a long distance. It's a long ways. The reception's been great. There's a little bit of about a nine-second delay, but no, I just had a statement for... I don't know what you heard, but I was just saying they're very proud of your brilliant person from Canada on the ship.
And Wayne Gretzky is a great friend of mine and he's very proud of them, and the prime minister I spoke to, they're very, very honored that you have a courageous person from Canada. You have a lot of courageous people from Canada. So it was very nice. I'm not sure if you heard me say that, but it was very nice.
Wiseman: Yes, Mr. President, we heard that and we do love our Jeremy Hansen. We love all our Canadian astronauts. Jenny Gibbons, Josh Kutrick, they're just great people and they're such a welcome addition to our corp.
Trump: Great. Well, I really look forward to, when we can, well, I look forward to seeing you in the Oval Office. I'll ask Jared to bring you over and I'll ask for your autograph because I don't really ask for autographs much, but you deserve that. You really are something. Everybody's talking about this. And I look forward to having you in the Oval Office at the White House and we will celebrate your incredible achievements and triumphs.
This is really big stuff. The whole world is talking about it. And if you have the time, I will certainly find the time, I've been pretty busy also, as you know, but I will absolutely find the time and we'll get together and I'm going to be giving you a big salute on behalf of the American people and beyond that.
Glover: Thank you for that, Mr. President, and when you want us, we will be there. And thank you for your leadership. Thank you to Jared for his leadership. Really, thank you for taking the time out today to visit NASA. It's really special for us, but it's really special for the team on the ground. A whole team of people all around the world pulled this off, and we just want to say thank you to all of you for this.
It is the thrill and honor of a lifetime to have been on this journey. Today was amazing, but this three-year journey has been amazing and it was made possible by the American people and the Canadian people, and we're so grateful to you all. Thank you very much.
Trump: Well, thank you very much. And Jared, congratulations. We'll see you soon. And I know that you have Mars very much in your mind, so we'll start thinking about that pretty soon, I think. And thank you. Congratulations to everybody. I'll see you at the Oval Office.
Isaacman: Thank you for your time, Mr. President. It's been an honor.
Trump: Thank you very much. Bye. Bye.
Unidentified: Integrity, this is Houston ACR. That concludes the event. Thank you.