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As the Artemis II mission embarked on its historic journey to the moon, the crew aboard NASA’s spacecraft encountered an alarming situation. The astronauts reported receiving a chilling warning as they navigated past the ‘point of no return’ in their lunar expedition.
On board the Orion capsule, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen were finally set on their course to the moon. This came after the critical execution of a ‘translunar injection burn,’ a maneuver essential for propelling the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and directing it towards the moon.
However, just 20 minutes into this crucial phase, the crew was confronted with an unsettling emergency message indicating a ‘cabin leak.’ This unexpected alert understandably caused concern among the astronauts, already on a mission of immense complexity and risk.
In their first live broadcast from space, astronaut Hansen addressed the situation, stating, “We did get a warning message for ‘cabin leak suspected.’” His words underscored the unpredictable nature of space travel and the challenges faced even by the most prepared teams.
‘We did get a warning message for “cabin leak suspected”,’ astronaut Hansen said in the crew’s first live interview from space.
‘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?”‘
A cabin leak is a serious issue, as it could compromise the structure of the spacecraft and potentially expose the crew to the vacuum of space.
Luckily, investigations revealed the message was just an anomaly – and on-board cabin pressure was unaffected.
The view from the spacecraft as it carried out the translunar injection burn, nudging the Orion capsule towards the moon
‘Houston helped us out – they confirmed they were seeing good cabin pressure and so were we on-board,’ Hansen said. ‘We did the burn and now we’re heading to the moon and feeling good.’
The launch on Wednesday evening marked the start of a mammoth 685,000-mile (1.1million km) trip around the dark side of the lunar surface.
It is the first time in more than 50 years that humans have set off towards the moon.
In the first 24 hours the Orion spacecraft orbited Earth while the crew carried out safety checks and managed to get some sleep.
‘The Orion spacecraft recently ignited its main engine on the service module for about six minutes to provide about 6,000 pounds of thrust,’ NASA wrote on X.
‘Next stop: lunar flyby.’
Now that its main engines have fired, the capsule is being propelled to the moon.
On flight day six, Orion will reach its farthermost point from Earth as it sails 6,400 miles (10,299km) beyond the lunar surface.
The astronauts seemed in great spirits as they gave their first live interview from space, making heart shapes with their hands towards the camera
NASA’s mission control confirmed they were seeing good cabin pressure following an emergency ‘cabin leak’ message
That will surpass Apollo 13’s distance record, which would make Artemis astronauts the most remote travellers.
‘There is nothing normal about this,’ mission commander Wiseman said in the interview.
‘Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a herculean effort and we are now only just realising the gravity of that.’
During the interview the team also revealed they had experienced some issues with the cabin being cold.
‘We’re wishing we had the lower temperature sleeping bags with us,’ Glover said.
‘Houston’s been working with us to change fan speeds and temperature set points and we’ve actually been able to warm it up a lot better in the last half day or so.’
The crew also said they have had their first meal together in space – and described their ‘comical’ sleeping arrangements.
‘Victor has got a nice little nook, Jeremy has been stretched out on seat one and I’ve been sleeping under the displays just in case anything goes wrong,’ Reid said.
‘Christina has been sleeping head–down in the middle of the vehicle, kind of like a bat, suspended from our docking tunnel.’
The team also described their surprise at even taking off.
‘Probably one of the things that surprised all of us was when those solid rocket boosters actually lit and we left the pad,’ Hansen said. ‘It was just a moment of disbelief – the fact that we launched, it just totally takes you by surprise even though you’re expecting it.’
After looping around the moon the Orion craft will begin its return journey back toward Earth.
It will take another four days to return, which the astronauts will fill by conducting key safety demonstrations, including testing procedures designed to shield the crew from dangerous solar radiation from solar flares.
As Orion approaches Earth, it will separate key components before plunging into the atmosphere at speeds of about 25,000 miles per hour (40,233 kph).
The spacecraft is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery teams will retrieve the crew.
The voyage aims to pave the way for a moon landing in 2028 which, if successful, will be the first time humans have set foot on the moon since December 1972.
The Artemis II mission’s Orion capsule leaves Earth, backlit by the sun as a crescent, on its way to fly by the moon
The moment space fans waited more than 50 years for as NASA launched its Artemis II mission to the moon on Wednesday evening
Part of what makes Artemis II riskier than NASA’s standard missions is that it is testing relatively new technology.
Compared to a spacecraft like the Crew Dragon, which has been used dozens of times, the Orion spacecraft has only been used once, during Artemis I.
‘Orion’s life support and deep–space systems have never been flown with a crew before,’ explained Chris Bosquillon, co–chair of the Moon Village Association’s working group for Disruptive Technology & Lunar Governance.
This creates a risk that one of the critical systems might fail once Orion has already left the atmosphere.
If something had gone wrong during the first day, while Orion was still in low–Earth orbit, the crew could simply have fired the engines to make an early return to Earth.
But if part of the engines or life–support system fail once the trip to the Moon had begun, things would be much more complicated.
The absolute worst–case scenario would involve multiple systems failing, including the propulsion system, leaving Orion unable to alter its course.