Astronauts had a call with the US president from space after setting record for the farthest-traveled humans from Earth
The crew of Artemis II phoned home from the moon on Monday night after their record-breaking day, to find Donald Trump musing about how he had saved the US space agency Nasa from closing down and telling the astronauts how much they deserved the honor of the president seeking their autographs.
The intermittently uncomfortable 12-minute Earth to space call, facilitated by Nasa administrator and Trump acolyte Jared Isaacman, featured a lengthy period of silence, several references by the president about his friendship with the retired Canadian ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, and how “America is the hottest country in the world right now”.
But it was Trump’s questionable claim to have rescued Nasa during his first presidency that raised eyebrows and left the Artemis crew awkwardly tossing a microphone to each other in zero gravity just hours after setting a record for the farthest-traveled humans from Earth.
“You know, I had a decision to make in my first term, and the decision is: ‘What are we going to do at Nasa?’” Trump said.
