President Donald Trump blamed a technical glitch for an awkward, minute-long silence during his Monday-night phone call with the astronauts aboard the Artemis II lunar flyby spacecraft.
The president spoke with the four astronauts—Americans Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen—after 10:30 p.m. ET for just over 12 minutes, praising their achievements after they traveled farther from Earth than any human being in history earlier in the day.
“Today, you’ve made history and made all America really proud,” Trump told the crew, who were some 250,000 miles away from Earth at the time. “Humans have never really seen anything quite like what you’re doing in a manned spacecraft. It’s really special.”
After Hansen went out of his way to thank the president on behalf of Canada—a surprising move considering Trump’s previous threats to annex the country and turn it into the 51st state—for allowing him to participate in the mission, Trump responded by mentioning one of the few Canadians he knows: NHL Hall-of-Famer Wayne Gretzky.
Trump, who has previously joked that the former hockey player could be made governor of Canada if it were to become a U.S. state, told Hansen that Gretzky, Prime Minister Mark Carney, and “other friends” he has in Canada were all proud of him.
“You have a lot of courage. I’m not sure if they’d want to do that,” Trump told Hansen. “I’m not even sure if ‘The Great One’ would want to do that, to be honest with you,” he added, using Gretzky’s nickname.
“But you have a lot of courage doing what you’re doing, a lot of bravery and a lot of genius, but they’re very proud of you.”
The call then turned awkward.
The astronauts did not respond, instead opting to watch the microphone they were using to communicate float through the air while smiling awkwardly at the camera.
Approximately one full minute of silence followed, with Trump also quiet on the other end of the line.
Eventually, mission commander Reid Wiseman checked with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman that the president was still on the line; Isaacman and Trump confirmed they were both still there.
Laughter could be heard on one end of the line after Trump confirmed his presence. Wiseman offered a thumbs-up to the camera and the rest of the crew continued to smile, awkwardly.
“I think we might have gotten cut off,” Trump eventually said, attempting to brush off the silence. “It is a long distance, it’s a long ways. The reception’s been great,” he continued, before blaming the awkwardness on a “nine-second delay.” The crew seemingly nodded in affirmation when the president mentioned the delay.
The Daily Beast has contacted NASA for clarification and the White House for comment.
The president then told the astronauts he looked forward to welcoming them to the Oval Office.
“I’ll ask Jared to bring you over, and I’ll ask for your autograph, because I don’t really ask for autographs much but you deserve that, you really are something. Everybody’s talking about this,” he added.
Trump ended the call by mentioning a potential future trip to Mars, telling the crew, “I know you have Mars very much in your mind, so we’ll start thinking about that pretty soon, I think.”
Wiseman had said earlier in the call that the biggest surprise of the day came when the crew watched a solar eclipse and saw Mars in the distance.
“All of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation and this planet become a two-planet species,” Wiseman told the president.
Having completed their mission, the crew is now headed back to Earth, with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean planned for Friday.
