The president Donald Trump praised NASA on Wednesday following the successful return of the Artemis II mission, calling it a source of "great pride" for Americans and stating that the United States is now "far ahead" of Russia and China in the space industry.
In statements collected by Fox News, Trump stated: "it generated great pride. Everyone saw it that night. It was something truly special. Everyone I know watched it. They saw the landing, they saw the takeoff. And it fills us with pride. And something very good will come out of all this."
The president also claimed the creation of the Space Force as one of his greatest presidential accomplishments: "From a military standpoint, it is very useful. And one of my greatest achievements, I believe, will be the fact that I created the Space Force, because we were falling behind against Russia and China. And now we are well ahead of them."
The mission Artemis II, launched on April 1 from pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center aboard the SLS rocket, was the first crewed flight to orbit the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, over 53 years ago.
The crew consisted of commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover —the first African American astronaut to embark on a lunar mission—, specialist Christina Koch —the first woman to fly around the Moon—, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, the first astronaut from Canada to undertake this journey.
On April 6, the spacecraft reached a maximum distance of 406,773 km from Earth, surpassing the historic record set by Apollo 13 in April 1970 by 6,600 km.
The Orion capsule successfully landed on April 11 at 8:07 p.m. Eastern Time in the Pacific Ocean, about 110 km off the coast of San Diego, California, after traveling over 1.1 million kilometers in ten days.
Trump had already spoken via satellite with the crew while they were orbiting the Moon, in the first presidential communication of its kind in over fifty years, and invited the astronauts to the Oval Office to celebrate their achievements.
The president's statements come on the same day that the Space Force and allies from the Five Eyes group—United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand—conducted the "Apollo Insight" drill, a prepared exercise in response to a scenario involving a Russian nuclear anti-satellite weapon in orbit.
This context of military and civilian competition supports Trump's assertions about the rivalry with Moscow and Beijing: China's orbital presence grew by 927% since the end of 2015, exceeding 1,189 satellites in July 2025, including over 510 dedicated to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
The NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, appointed by Trump, described Artemis II as a "pioneering act" and the first step towards a permanent lunar base and missions to Mars. "", he stated on Tuesday in an interview with ABC News.
Artemis III, scheduled for mid-2027, will achieve the first landing on the lunar south pole.
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