The Artemis II crew have revealed the terrifying “alert” they received during the “point of no return” in their journey to the moon.
In their first interview from space, the four-person crew said just 20 minutes after they left Earth’s orbit, they were alerted to a “suspected cabin leak”.
Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen said the alert came shortly after the spacecraft’s engine burn, which is a pivotal moment in the ten-day journey that propels the crew out of the Earth’s atmosphere.
“We did get a warning message for ‘cabin leak suspected,’” he said.
“This grabs your attention because … you go right from doing this burn and you’re heading to the moon to thinking, ‘Are we going to have to cancel this burn, start getting into our spacesuits and figuring out how to get home in a day or less?’”
The crew said they investigated the problem and that the alert was found to be a mistake.
“Houston helped us out. They confirmed they were seeing good cabin pressure, and so were we on board,” Mr Hansen said.
“We did the burn, and now we’re heading to the moon and feeling good.”
Commander Reid Wiseman said the moment was “pretty tense”.
“And when we got done with that burn, we just kind of looked at each other as a crew,” he said.
“We have been to the moon before. It’s been a long time since we’ve been back, and I got to tell you, there is nothing normal about this.
“Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a herculean effort, and we are now just realising the gravity of that.”
The astronauts are now on a “free-return” trajectory, which uses the Moon’s gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth without propulsion.
“From this point forward, the laws of orbital mechanics are going to carry our crew to the Moon, around the far side and back to Earth,” NASA official Lori Glaze said.
Other minor problems have been repaired by the Artemis II crew so far, including a communications issue and a malfunctioning toilet.
The mission’s only woman, Christina Koch, said she was now “proud to call” herself a space plumber.
“I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board,” she said.
“So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine.”
The 10-day mission is aimed at paving the way for a Moon landing in 2028.
