Donald Trump awards Artemis II Moon mission astronauts top US space honour

The four astronauts who travelled around the Moon and back have received the United States' highest honour for space exploration.

US President Donald Trump presented Nasa's Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in Texas.

Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, spent 10 days in space in April.

The record-breaking mission saw the astronauts travel beyond the far side of the Moon, setting a new record for the furthest distance humans have ever travelled into space.

President Trump said: "We gather here on these grounds to celebrate the immense courage and service of four intrepid space heroes, whose sense of daring and adventure led them further from Earth than anyone has ever travelled before."

The Congressional Space Medal of Honor is a special award given to astronauts who have made important contributions to their country and space exploration.

The honour is the highest award the US Government can give to an astronaut, and is awarded by the US President following recommendations from the head of Nasa.

Only 30 astronauts have ever received the medal since it was created, making it a very rare honour.

They include Neil Armstrong, who was the first person to walk on the Moon, and John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth.

Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt who walked on the Moon, said at the ceremony: "The Artemis crew has done an outstanding job of continuing the process that we went through almost 60 years ago.

"We are sampling creation. That's what exploration of the Moon, the Earth and, eventually, the rest of the solar system is all about."

The four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch were onboard the Orion spacecraft which launched from the Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida, on Wednesday 1 April UK time.

The mission saw the four travel past the far side of the Moon (that's the side that can't be seen from our planet because the Moon keeps the same face towards Earth), before heading home.

They were the first group of astronauts to travel around the Moon since the 1970s.

The four saw places never seen by humans before, and made history too - setting the record for the farthest humans have ever travelled from Earth.