Four astronauts just strapped themselves to 8.8 million pounds of thrust on a rocket built by Americans, launched from American soil, funded by American taxpayers, and pointed at the moon — and an NBC reporter went on national television to tell us we shouldn’t be proud of it “as Americans.”

Unbelievable. Somebody should tell Tom Costello that the “N” in NASA stands for “National,” not “Neutral.”

Here’s what Costello said on NBC Nightly News during the Artemis II launch coverage on April 1st — and no, this is not an April Fools’ joke: “I think it’s important and relevant to take a moment and say wow, we should be collectively, not as Americans, not as North Americans or as — but just as humans, proud of the achievement here.”

Not as Americans. Not as North Americans. As humans.

Let’s unpack that for a second, because the absurdity is stacked about nine layers deep.

The Space Launch System rocket that carried four astronauts toward the moon was designed, built, and assembled in the United States. It launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission was planned by NASA — the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, emphasis on “National” — and funded by roughly $93 billion in American taxpayer dollars spent on the Artemis program over the past decade.

The crew includes Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch — all NASA astronauts, all Americans. The fourth crew member is Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, which is great. Canada contributed. We appreciate it. But the rocket didn’t launch from Ottawa.

This is the first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Fifty-four years. More than half a century since human beings traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Victor Glover just became the first Black astronaut to fly beyond low Earth orbit. Christina Koch just became the first woman. These are historic American achievements aboard an American spacecraft launched on American hardware.

And Tom Costello thinks the appropriate response is to make sure nobody gets too patriotic about it.

Here’s a question: Does NBC tell the French not to celebrate “as French people” on Bastille Day? Does anyone at 30 Rock remind Brazilians that they shouldn’t take national pride in their soccer team? When Japan lands a rover on the moon, does Tom Costello rush on air to remind Tokyo that this is really a “human” accomplishment?

Of course not. National pride is only embarrassing when Americans do it.

This is what happens when a newsroom marinates in “global citizen” ideology for so long that they can’t even let a moon launch be patriotic. We spent $93 billion. We built the rocket. We trained the astronauts. We launched from our own soil. And the instinct at NBC — the reflexive, automatic instinct — was to sand the edges off the American flag before anyone got too excited about waving it.

The Artemis II mission represents something that only a handful of countries on Earth can even attempt, and exactly one country has actually done more than once. That country is the United States. The Chinese space program is trying. The European Space Agency talks about it. But the crew circling the moon right now launched on American engines, guided by American engineers, and protected by American heat shields.

You know who isn’t confused about whose achievement this is? The Chinese. When China lands its Chang’e probes on the moon, CCTV doesn’t bring on a commentator to gently remind everyone that this is really about “all of humanity.” They wave the flag. They play the anthem. They make sure every kid in Shanghai knows that China did it.

Meanwhile, we send humans to the moon for the first time in half a century, and NBC’s contribution is to tell Americans to calm down about the American part.

Tom Costello is paid — generously, we assume — by a network that broadcasts in America, to American viewers, selling advertising to American companies. His salary is denominated in American dollars. The satellite that beams his signal is American. And he used all of that American infrastructure to go on American television and suggest that celebrating this American accomplishment “as Americans” is somehow too provincial.

We went to the moon. Again. We’re the only country that’s done it with humans. Twice. That’s not a “human” achievement in some vague, borderless sense. That’s an American achievement. Built by Americans, paid for by Americans, crewed by Americans.

Wave the flag. Tom will get over it.