The four astronauts who flew NASA's Artemis II mission to lunar orbit rang the Nasdaq closing bell on Thursday, April 30, 2026. Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen celebrated the milestone at the stock exchange in New York.
Artemis II sent the crew around the moon and back without landing, testing life support systems and heat shields for future lunar surface missions. The mission validated hardware and procedures essential for Artemis III, which will return humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Wiseman, a Navy pilot, commanded the mission. Glover, also Navy, piloted the Orion spacecraft. Koch, a former ISS expedition engineer, served as mission specialist. Hansen became Canada's first person to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
The crew's public appearance underscores the program's momentum under NASA leadership. Artemis missions use the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket and Orion capsule, both products of years of development by NASA centers and contractors across the United States.
The Nasdaq appearance marked a rare moment when America's financial district and space exploration intersected to acknowledge human spaceflight achievement.