— NASA now has the next United States flag to be deployed on the surface of the moon.

A member of the last mission to land on the moon, joined by the most recent astronauts to fly there, accepted the red, white and blue banner during a speech by President Donald Trump late night on Saturday (July 4) as part of a "Salute to America" semiquincentennial celebration on the National Mall.

"I have a special gift for these patriots this morning on America's 250th birthday. A new flag was flown above the United States Capitol, and tonight I present it to you to soon be planted by American astronauts on their upcoming return to the moon," said Trump.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Kaitlyn Tinkham presented the folded 50-star flag to former U.S. Senator Harrison Schmitt, who in December 1972 became the first geologist to explore the moon as the lunar module pilot on Apollo 17. The mission was the last to land on the moon (to date).

Standing side-by-side with Schmitt were Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the crew of Artemis II, who in April flew by the moon and set a new record for the farthest humans have traveled away from Earth.

"These champions of flight stand this evening beside the flag flown on the Wright brothers' airplane piloted by Orville Wright," said Trump, reference one of the historic flags on the stage as having been flown on the 1908 Flyer at Fort Myer in Virginia. "The exact flag, very historic."

"They told me today they were really amazed to be here with that flag. That's a very special flag, if you're in the world of flying aircraft," he said.

Since 1937, the Architect of the Capitol has granted requests to fly flags over the building in recognition of civic organizations or in commemoration of holidays and special events. One such flag, flown over the Capitol on July 20, 1969, honored the first landing on the moon and is currently on special display at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, the hometown of the first person to walk on the moon.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin also brought with them two 8-foot-wide by 5-foot-high (1.5 by 2.4 meters) American flags that had previously flown over the U.S. Capitol. Apollo 11 command module pilot later presented one of the flags to then-Vice President Spiro Agnew as the head of the Senate. Armstrong then gave the other flag to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John McCormack.

"I can assure you that this [flag] will be kept and appreciated with the dignity that it deserves," Agnew said upon receiving the Senate flag.

The Artemis II crew, on their flight by the moon in April, also carried a number of U.S. flags, including a 3-by-5-foot (0.9-by-1.5-meter) banner that was one of seven prepared to be deployed on the moon but missed its flight when Apollo 18 was canceled due to budget cuts. The flag was, and is expected to return to display at NASA Headquarters.

The four astronauts also had with them the "Legacy Flag," a 13-by-8-inch (33-by-20-centimeter) American flag that previously flew on STS-1, the inaugural space shuttle mission in 1981; the International Space Station on STS-135, the final space shuttle mission; and then brought back to Earth by the SpaceX Demo-2 crew, the first astronauts to fly into orbit on a U.S. commercial spacecraft, 2020.

In addition to appearing during Trump's speech, which was delayed beginning to about 11:15 p.m. EDT due to extreme heat and thunderstorms in the area, the Artemis II crew also threw out the first pitch(es) at the Washington Nationals baseball game on Saturday and were interviewed by actor Gary Sinese ("Apollo 13") as part of A Capitol Fourth, the annual July 3 concert held on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

"What the four of us just got to do — myself, Victor, Christina and Jeremy — that was very special, but tonight we want to thank all of you folks in the U.S. and around the world because you all showed up for us and we celebrated together," said Wiseman on Friday evening. "What's coming next here? Here on America's 250th birthday, we have a crew on the International Space Station, we have rovers on Mars, we are sending probes to the moons of Jupiter, we are getting ready to launch Artemis III next year. So tonight, let's just celebrate the gifts that this nation has given all of us."

NASA is currently working toward next launching the Artemis III mission in 2027. Crewmates Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas will stay in Earth orbit to test out as many as two commercial moon landing vehicles.

The next lunar landing by astronauts is targeted for no earlier than late 2028, on the Artemis IV mission to touch down at the moon's south pole.