diff --git a/.github/workflows/recover_s3_repository.yml b/.github/workflows/recover_s3_repository.yml
index 36127eed9..3e6ec9166 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/recover_s3_repository.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/recover_s3_repository.yml
@@ -46,14 +46,23 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Validate datetime
         run: |
-          set -e
           datetime="${{ github.event.inputs.date_month }}-${{ github.event.inputs.date_day }}-${{ github.event.inputs.date_year }} ${{ github.event.inputs.time }} +0000"
           # Use Python's strptome (same as s3-pit-restore) to check if it's a valid datetime
           python3 -c "from datetime import datetime; datetime.strptime('$datetime', '%m-%d-%Y %H:%M:%S %z')" 2> /dev/null
           exit_code=$?          
           if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo "Invalid datetime: $datetime"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          
+          # check that datetime is not in the future
+          python3 -c "from datetime import datetime,timezone; import sys; sys.exit(1) if datetime.strptime('$datetime', '%m-%d-%Y %H:%M:%S %z') >= datetime.now(timezone.utc) else sys.exit(0)"
+          exit_code=$?          
+          if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo "datetime cannot be in the future: $datetime"
             exit 1
           fi
+          
           echo "DATE_TIME=$datetime" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Validate path input does not have leading nor trailing slash