The Artemis II crew was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and President Donald Trump announced process for creating the U.S. Space Academy on Friday in Houston.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen each received the award.

“This is a very rare thing,” Trump said at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

“Only 30 extraordinary men and women – long period of time, too – in history of our country have received this extremely rare and distinguished honor,” he added. 

“And today, we add four new names to this elite roster of fearless explorers,” he later added.

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The president also signed an Executive Order paving the way for a new space military school, and the details will be sorted out by a new presidential commission. 

“As the world can see today under the Trump administration, we have brought America's space program – it came out of its Dark Age and it’s into its Golden Age. This is the Golden Age of America and this is a big part of it," he said.

“So to every astronaut here today, I want to make this promise to you: Our nation will conquer and we will conquer indeed,” the president continued. 

“We explore it, we will tame it, and we will win it. We will always win,” Trump added.

During the visit, the president also contacted the astronauts on the International Space Station, and he was gifted a special NASA flight jacket.