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A ticker-tape parade down Broadway honoring the Artemis II crew may not be light-years away after all — provided NASA picks up the tab.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said this week that his administration is reviewing the feasibility of celebrating the heroic astronauts’ feat of traveling farther into space than any other humans.
“When it comes to the Artemis II ticker-tape parade, that is something we have brought back to [my City Hall] team and are looking into the logistics of what that will require,” Mamdani told 1010 WINS, when asked about City Council leaders’ demand that NYC celebrate the crew’s achievements.
But Mamdani strongly hinted he wants NASA to foot the bill.
“I think typically ticker-tape parades have been funded by the organization or entity that’s being celebrated, and that’s part of what we’re looking into right now,” he said.
The city last held a ticker-tape parade in 2024 when it celebrated the New York Liberty’s WNBA championship down the Canyon of Heroes, with the team picking up most of the cost.
It’s unclear how much the Liberty parade cost, but a similar parade honoring the US women’s national soccer team’s World Cup championship cost $2 million — with NYC taxpayers reportedly paying $1.5 million.
Speaker Julie Menin (D-Manhattan), Minority Leader David Carr (R-Staten Island), Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams (D-Queens) and Councilman Frank Morano (R-Staten Island) sent Mamdani an April 17 letter — first reported by The Post — requesting he celebrate the space crew along downtown’s Canyon of Heroes.
The last astronauts honored that way were the famed Apollo 11 moonshot crew in 1969.
The socialist mayor — who has already coldly banned the public from attending the Times Square ball drop celebrating America’s 250th birthday on July 4 — admitted to WNYC that it was “quite incredible” watching the Artemis crew’s journey from Earth.
“I think it was a real invitation for people across the world to remember that we are part of something larger,” said Mamdani.
The NASA-led Artemis II mission earlier this month marked humankind’s first crewed visit to the moon since 1972, and set a new distance record for manned space travel of 252,760 miles from Earth.
NASA did not return messages.
Mamdani considering ticker-tape parade for Artemis II crew — if NASA foots the bill – New York Post
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