the crew of the apollo 13 was awarded the presidential medal of freedom by
Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team On April 18, 1970, the team was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard M. Nixon. They were awarded these because of their courage during their space mission to the moon.
Apollo 11 The astronauts planted a specially designed U.S. flag on the lunar surface, in clear view of the TV camera. Aldrin remembered, "Of all the jobs I had to do on the Moon the one I wanted to go the smoothest was the flag raising."[100] But the astronauts struggled with the telescoping rod and could only jam the pole a couple of inches into the hard lunar surface. Aldrin was afraid it might topple in front of TV viewers. But he gave "a crisp West Point salute".[100] Before Aldrin could take a photo of Armstrong with the flag, President Richard Nixon spoke to them through a telephone-radio transmission which Nixon called "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House."[101] Nixon originally had a long speech prepared to read during the phone call, but Frank Borman, who was at the White House as a NASA liaison during Apollo 11, convinced Nixon to keep his words brief, to respect the lunar landing as Kennedy's legacy.[102]