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Politics14 outlets ran this3 min read

Trump calls International Space Station from Houston

President spoke with astronauts and signed an executive order establishing the U.S. Space Force Academy.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
Donald Trump makes call to ISS astronauts – and people think he’s never held a phone before

What this story says

  • President Donald Trump called the International Space Station from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday, September 28.
  • Trump praised the astronauts as "great Americans" and "great patriots" and invited them to the Oval Office.
  • During his visit, Trump signed an executive order establishing the U.S. Space Force Academy.
  • The manner in which Trump held the phone during the call attracted online mockery.

Who covered it

Left 11%(1)Centre 33%(3)Right 56%(5)

Percentages are shares of the 9 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 5 of the 14 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

68/100

Craft

69/100

Hype

45/100

14 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 1 of the 9 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

President Donald Trump spoke with astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, September 28, during a visit to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. He called the crew from Mission Control, praising them as "great Americans" and "great patriots." Trump also offered the astronauts an invitation to the Oval Office upon their return to Earth.

While in Houston, Trump signed an executive order to establish the U.S. Space Force Academy. He stated it would be at the same level as other service academies like West Point and the Air Force Academy.

The way Trump held the phone away from his ear during the call drew attention and online commentary. Some social media accounts posted clips of the moment, with one suggesting it was the first time Trump had held a phone.

Disagreement on the first call

Republic World reported that Trump's call was the first to the station by a sitting president. However, this detail was not mentioned in the other reports.

Omissions in coverage

None of the right-rated digests mention the online mockery directed at President Trump for the way he held the phone. The left-rated report from indy100 was the only one to detail this aspect of the event.

Tags:#DonaldTrump#SpaceForce#NASA#InternationalSpaceStation#USPolitics

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 30 Aug 2026, 01:45, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

1 rated outlet

  • The left-rated report from indy100 focused on the online mockery directed at President Trump for the way he held the phone during his call to the ISS. The report included social media reactions and noted the muted response from NASA scientists in attendance. It also mentioned Trump signing the executive order for the Space Force Academy.

Centre

3 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports from CBS News, The Southwest Iowa News Source, and The Economic Times highlighted President Trump's call to the ISS astronauts and his praise for them. They also mentioned his invitation to the Oval Office and the signing of the executive order for the U.S. Space Force Academy. The Economic Times digest also noted Trump called the astronauts "great Americans" and "great patriots" and joked with the crew.

Right

5 rated outlets

  • The right-rated reports from Republic World, Times of India, news-pravda.com, and Fox News focused on President Trump's call to the International Space Station astronauts. They reported his praise for the astronauts, calling them "great Americans" and "great patriots," and his offer of "Oval Office time." Republic World stated it was the first call to the station by a sitting president. Fox News also mentioned the Oval Office invitation. The Times of India digest described the call as "emotional."

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Trump calls International Space Station from Houston?
Of the 9 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 11% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 56% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 14. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Trump calls International Space Station from Houston left or right?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 9 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
Is the coverage of Trump calls International Space Station from Houston biased?
Trump calls International Space Station from Houston is one event reported by 14 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Trump calls International Space Station from Houston?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Trump calls International Space Station from Houston?
14 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
When did Donald Trump call the International Space Station?
President Donald Trump called the International Space Station on Friday, September 28, from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The call took place during his visit to the space center.
What did Donald Trump say to the astronauts?
Trump praised the astronauts as "great Americans" and "great patriots." He also offered them an invitation to the Oval Office upon their return to Earth and congratulated them on their work.
What executive order did Donald Trump sign?
During his visit to Houston, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the U.S. Space Force Academy. He stated that the academy would be on par with other established military service academies.
What aspect of the call drew online commentary?
The way President Trump held the phone during his call to the International Space Station attracted online mockery. He held the phone away from his ear, suspended in the air, which was noted and shared on social media.

Read it at the source

14 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

1

Centre

3

Right

5

Not rated

5

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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