Trump called the Artemis II crew. The silence went viral.
No, NASA's Artemis II astronauts did not make contact with extraterrestrial life on the far side of the moon — but they did get a call from Donald Trump.
As the crew traveled farther from Earth than any humans have in decades, the U.S. president phoned commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen on Monday to congratulate them on the historic mission. The exchange was captured on the Artemis II livestream.
"You've made history and made all of America really proud," Trump told the crew during the roughly 12-minute call, which took place just hours after they soared past the far side of the moon. The president called the astronauts "modern-day pioneers" and asked what it felt like to lose contact with Earth during the lunar flyby. "I said a little prayer, and then I had to keep rolling," Glover replied, adding that the crew worked on their detailed lunar observations during that time. "It was actually quite nice."
Trump acknowledged Hansen's role as the mission's Canadian astronaut, referring to him as a "neighbor." The president also referenced conversations with Canadian ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, spoke optimistically about future trips to Mars, and claimed, "America is the hottest country in the world right now." The Artemis II crew seemed more fascinated by the floating microphone drifting through the cabin, repeatedly grabbing for it as it bobbed weightlessly between them.
At one point, both sides of the call briefly wondered whether the connection had dropped, leading to several awkward seconds of silence.
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Within minutes, clips of the exchange spread across social media, while the dead air became its own meme. One viral post described the moment simply: "Awkward scenes aboard Artemis II as Trump stops ranting and none of the astronauts have anything left to say to him, leading to extended dead air."
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But the online reaction quickly shifted from the novelty of the call itself to the politics surrounding it.
Just days before the conversation, the White House proposed cutting NASA's overall budget by 23 percent for fiscal year 2027 while reducing NASA's science division by nearly half. At the same time, the proposal would increase funding for the Artemis mission, including $8.5 billion for the moon program and additional money for plans to establish a permanent lunar base camp. (Notably, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman supports the administration's proposed budget cuts.)
That contradiction became central to much of the internet's response. Posts juxtaposed Trump's praise for the astronauts and their scientific achievements with headlines about the proposed cuts.
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Scientists and advocacy groups have warned that cutting astrophysics, heliophysics, and planetary science budgets could ultimately undermine long-term human exploration. The Planetary Society called it the NASA cuts an "existential threat" to U.S. space science and exploration, claiming it could result in at least 40 missions being canceled.
The call between Trump and the Artemis II crew is more of a snapshot of the larger debate surrounding NASA itself, one that asks whether America can pursue historic human milestones even as it scales back the science that makes them possible.