President Donald Trump spoke by phone with the crew of the International Space Station on Friday from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, congratulating them on their accomplishments before fixating on the facial hair of one astronaut in particular.
Trump was in Houston to honor the four-person crew of Artemis II after their manned mission around the moon earlier this year when he phoned into the ISS crew in a video call. After hearing from two astronauts, Trump asked a third — U.S. Navy Commander Jack Hathaway — if he’d also like to speak.
“Would you like to say with that beautiful mustache?” Trump asked. “I want to get a mustache like that! Would you like to say something? Go ahead.”
Hathaway smirked as he grabbed a microphone to respond.
“I appreciate it… yea, the mustache is a lot of fun,” Hathaway said. “You definitely have to have one in space; it’s great in microgravity.”
Trump has pushed for NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2028, and earlier this year, his administration revealed plans to establish a habitable base on the moon by the end of his second term. However, a “devastating” mishap may have already delayed such a mission far beyond 2028, per reporting from Politico.
A NASA official told Politico that the recent explosion of a Blue Origin rocket at Cape Canaveral in Florida would almost certainly delay Trump’s moon mission by at least a year, thereby extending the timeframe beyond the end of Trump’s second term in office.
Trump to astronaut with mustache:
Would you like to say with that beautiful mustache? I want to get a mustache like that. Would you like to say something? Go ahead. pic.twitter.com/LO1FjRaEXJ
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) August 28, 2026