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US President Donald Trump hosted the four-member Artemis II crew at the White House on Wednesday, celebrating their historic return from the farthest reaches of space ever travelled by humankind.
The meeting in the Oval Office served as a homecoming for astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, who safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 11 after a monumental 10-day mission around the Moon. During the interaction, which included the astronauts' families, President Trump praised the courage of the crew, emphasising the mission's role in his administration's vision for American leadership in space. Addressing the astronauts, Trump said, "We have some people that have captivated the attention of the whole world... They're very brave. I don't know how they do it. I wouldn't want to do it... it takes people like this to make our country great." The President also extended a specific congratulations to Jared Isaacman, the billionaire explorer and current advisor on space initiatives, stating, "I want to congratulate you... I made a great choice." The Artemis II mission was not merely a test flight; it was a record-shattering journey. For the first time in over 50 years, humans travelled beyond low-Earth orbit to loop around the Moon. The crew surpassed the 56-year-old record set by Apollo 13, which reached 248,655 miles from Earth. Artemis II now holds the title for the farthest distance ever travelled by humans in space. Lasting nearly 10 days, the flight validated the life-support systems and heat-shield capabilities of the Orion spacecraft, proving it can sustain crews for the upcoming lunar surface landings. Notably, Artemis II surpassed the previous record held by the Apollo 13 mission, which had reached a distance of 248,655 miles from Earth, making it the farthest distance ever travelled by humans in space. As per the official website of NASA, there are five main priorities for Artemis II. These included the ability of systems and teams to sustain the flight crew in the flight environment, and through their return to Earth; demonstrate systems and operations essential to a crewed lunar campaign; retrieve flight hardware and data, assessing performance for future missions; demonstrate emergency system capabilities and validate associated operations to the extent practical, such as abort operations and rescue procedures, as needed and complete additional objectives to verify subsystems and validate data. The successful conclusion of this mission marks the end of the "test phase" and the beginning of a new era. With the Artemis II crew back on Earth and honoured at the White House, NASA is now focused on Artemis III, which aims to land the first humans on the lunar South Pole by late 2027. (ANI)
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