A bipartisan group of NYC pols are urging party-pooping Mayor Zohran Mamdani to throw a ticker-tape parade for the Artemis II astronauts — the first space-travelers that would ride down the Canyon of Heroes since the 1969 moon landing.
But NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin, Minority Leader David Carr and other pols fear Hizzoner will throw a wet blanket on the out-of-this-world celebration, given that the socialist mayor has already coldly banned the public from attending the Times Square ball drop celebrating America’s 250th birthday on July 4.
The pols say the heroic Artemis II crew — and city residents of all political stripes — deserve to party.
“In a world that has become increasingly polarized and often hostile, there are very few events that bring us all together to remind us of the joy of human existence and the beauty of the planet we all share,” wrote Menin (D-Manhattan), Carr (R-Staten Island), Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams (D-Queens) and Councilman Frank Morano (R-Staten Island) in a letter to Mamdani on Friday.
“The historic Artemis II mission was one of them.”
The city hasn’t thrown a ticker-tape parade for astronauts since Mayor John Lindsay and 4 million New Yorkers welcomed Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on Aug. 13, 1969, three weeks after Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon.
The Artemis II mission marked humankind’s first visit to the moon since 1972, and set a new distance record for manned space travel. It captured never-before-seen images of the far side of the moon, making the four crew members more than worthy of a motorcade in the Financial District, the council members insisted in the letter obtained by The Post.
“The Artemis II astronauts boldly went where no other humans had gone before, traveling 252,760 miles from Earth during their nine-day voyage around the moon — the farthest any humans have ever traveled,” they wrote.
“But we believe their mission is not complete without a ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes.
“It would be appropriate that astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen follow in the famous footsteps” of the Apollo 11 crew.
“New Yorkers, indeed, all Americans, should have an opportunity to collectively celebrate this monumental achievement of ingenuity, daring and leadership, and to always remember what we can accomplish together as a nation.
“We ask that you take the necessary preparations to make this happen.”
The Post has reached out to City Hall for comment.
The 1969 parade saw the three spacemen in a convertible ride through a blizzard of confetti from the Wall Street heliport through lower Manhattan to City Hall, where they were greeted by hundreds of thousands, bands, and two hook-and-ladder fire trucks carrying six US flags and a huge NASA banner, The Post reported then.
Lindsay greeted the trio and awarded them the City of New York’s Gold Medal, which had only been given once before.
“This is one of New York’s great moments,” Lindsay said.
Armstrong was taken aback by the 4 million onlookers, which up until that the time marked the largest parade in NYC history.
“More faces than I’ve seen in my entire life,” said Armstrong, a country boy who grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
The crew’s ride around Manhattan, however, didn’t go as smoothly as their perfect moon landing.
Hundreds of thousands missed viewing the astronauts because of a scheduling foul-up that had them arriving in the city earlier than scheduled, The Post reported. Lindsay’s staff blamed the snafu on NASA.
