Artemis II astronauts, NASA Commander Reid Wiseman and NASA Mission Specialist Christina Koch, with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump welcomed the Artemis II astronauts to the White House after their incredible trip farther than any other human has traveled. He didn't want to talk about that, however.
CNN host Brianna Keilar noted that Trump talked about former FBI Director James Comey, crime in Washington, D.C. It was anything but a conversation about the Artemis II crew standing beside him.
"I think we should just also point out what a tough spot for these incredibly accomplished astronauts who have just renewed so much interest in space travel with their incredible achievement of this Artemis II mission," said Keilar. "You know, two of them are active duty military, one of them Canadian, by the way. So, you can understand being in the middle of a situation like this, where some of this is getting politicized. It's just it's extraordinary. It's bizarre."
She noted that the whole purpose of the Artemis crew being at the White House was to celebrate their accomplishments.
After a short conversation about Trump's latest threats on Iran, the anchors returned to the awkward astronauts.
Co-host Boris Sanchez said the president appeared to recognize the position he was putting the astronauts in by turning to complain about politics, among other issues.
"I don't want to get you guys involved. I can't imagine what you're thinking," Trump told the astronauts.
When Trump did get a question about NASA and moving the headquarters, Trump didn't appear to understand the question and asked the reporter to "rephrase" it. After she asked it again, he called on the NASA administrator and then made fun of his ears.
"Yeah, he said, I know [they're] in a tough spot. And then he made it tougher by kind of saying ... I know what you're thinking. Which also can be read as, 'you agree with me. I'm not going to have you speak about that," said longtime CNN broadcaster Tom Foreman.
Foreman mentioned the astronauts' accomplishments again, saying that what they did was a big deal for the United States, but the win-hungry president glossed over it.
"This flight of Artemis II is, honestly, I think, one of the few things that we can point to in a big way in this country in the past several months or whatever, where a lot of people left and right would agree, this was an amazing accomplishment," Foreman said. "And isn't it great that they went out there. This was an accomplishment that was built over many years, not just Donald Trump's years."
He explained that they were there to be honored, but Trump spent no time honoring them.
"He talked to the astronauts much longer in space than he did when they were in the room with him!" said Foreman.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is making drastic cuts to NASA programs that made the Artemis II mission possible. Foreman called it, embracing his guests at the party while having their cars towed.
Republicans and Democrats have tried to convey to the White House that the U.S. will lose the space race to Chinese dominance and they will beat the U.S. to building a moon base and landing on Mars.
Foreman said that it could have very easily been a normal photo-op with a handshake and a wave, " But it turned into something very different."
Republicans have said that they will not allow Trump to make the 25 percent cuts to NASA that were proposed.
Science.org reported that the draft of the budget bill "is an early sign that Congress again thinks Trump has gone too far in cutting research."
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