Astronaut Victor Glover recounts false alarm on Artemis II — Space.com

NASA astronaut Victor Glover spoke at the Starmus VIII festival in Tenerife, Spain, about a warning of a possible leak in the cabin of the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II mission. The signal came about 15 minutes before a critical engine ignition that was supposed to put the crew on a trajectory to the Moon.

Warning before the maneuver

According to Space.com, the incident occurred on April 2, the second day of the mission. Orion was returning to Earth after flying to a distance of about 61,000 kilometers and was approaching perigee — about 160 kilometers above the planet's surface. At that time, the spacecraft was passing through an area with more satellites and orbital debris, as well as higher radiation levels.

The crew and mission control had to determine whether the leak signal was real. According to Glover, if the warning had come five minutes later, the planned maneuver might not have taken place, and the astronauts would have had to prepare to return to Earth.

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The alarm turned out to be false

As NASA flight director Judd Freeling reported on April 2, the warning was false. Artemis II was then cleared to continue the mission. Orion's main engine operated for about five minutes and 50 seconds, putting the four crew members on their path to the Moon.

During the flight, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency representative Jeremy Hansen traveled 406,771 kilometers away from Earth. They returned on April 10, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego after nearly 10 days in space.