Jump to contentAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleTrump presents NASA astronaut Christina Koch with a medal during a Congressional Space Medal of Honor presentation (REUTERS)President Donald Trump presented the crew of Nasa’s historic Artemis II mission with a Congressional Space Medal of Honor on Friday.Before giving the astronauts the accolade, Trump revealed that his administration is establishing a U.S. Space Academy. He signed an executive order at Friday’s event to begin creating the institution, modeled on West Point and other top U.S. military academies. "It's called the U.S. Space Academy. That's a big deal," Trump said during the visit to Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.Trump says the academy will help train service members, engineers and civilian operators needed as the U.S. Space Force and commercial space industry grow.Trump also said Nasa has begun work on what he called the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft which he said is expected to launch on a mission to Mars in 2028.More bulletinsThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

The four astronauts who flew NASA's Artemis II mission around the Moon are set to receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, one of the highest distinctions the United States…

Trump desperately tried to get a reaction from the audience, which refused to cheer or laugh at anything he said.

Trump will give the awards to the Artemis astronauts at around 11:40 a.m. on Friday morning in Houston, Texas.