The crew of Artemis II spoke to the media on Thursday, six days after returning to Earth following its mission around the Moon. After a press conference, the astronauts gave some interviews, and Ars was able to talk to Orion’s pilot, Victor Glover.
Glover and Arce first connected nearly a decade ago as part of our tribute to Apollo, The Greatest Leap. Glover now stands at the forefront of our modern Apollo program, codenamed Artemis, which aims to return humans to the Moon and establish a semi-permanent base there.
Glover, an accomplished naval aviator, first went to space in November 2020 as a pilot on the first operational Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station. Two years after returning to Earth, Glover was assigned to the Artemis II mission and tasked with test piloting most of the Orion spacecraft during its outbound and return journeys to the Moon.
We talked mostly about that experience Thursday afternoon at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
arse: You flew the Dragon with a touchscreen and the Orion with more traditional, practical controls. I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but which answer do you like?
Victor Glover: You know me. We’ve talked a lot about Dragon before, and it’s a great ship to transport humans to a space station. But I was really thrilled to find a translational hand controller, a THC, on the Orion.
arse: How did Orion handle the task compared to the simulations you did on Earth?
glove maker:The original vehicle had better springs. The pre-play was low, the stick had less wobble, so when I moved something, the sim made thruster sounds? Absolutely wrong. It was as thunderous as driving a pickup on a dirt road.
The SM (Service Module) was good – we could tell it was pressing and straining. It felt reactive. I could feel the push, but I could also immediately see in the camera that there was movement. The integrated system flew much better than the SIM. That team should be very proud.
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