NASA’s Tech Troubles: The Artemis II Outlook Reload

On Thursday, while on the journey to the Moon as part of the Artemis II mission, commander Reid Wiseman faced a relatable tech issue that many of us on Earth have experienced: Microsoft Outlook was not working. During a conversation captured in NASA’s Artemis livestream and shared on Bluesky, Wiseman informed Mission Control that he was having trouble with Outlook, stating, “I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working.”

To address the problem, Mission Control had to remotely access Wiseman’s personal computing device (PCD), a Microsoft Surface Pro. During a press conference held on Thursday, Artemis flight director Judd Frieling explained that NASA was able to fix the issue by reloading Wiseman’s files on Outlook. Frieling mentioned, “This is not uncommon. We have this on-station all the time. You know, sometimes Outlook has issues getting configured, especially when you don’t have a network that’s directly connected.”

NASA utilizes a combination of its Near Space Network and Deep Space Network to maintain communication with Artemis II. This involves a network of antennas around the world and satellites in orbit. Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, manages communications between these networks as Artemis II travels farther away from Earth.

In addition to the Microsoft Surface Pro, the gear list for the Artemis II crew includes Nikon D5 DSLR cameras, a ZCube video encoder, and handheld GoPro cameras for filming content for a Disney/National Geographic documentary. The crew members were also permitted to bring their phones, which were seen being stowed away in their spacesuit pockets during NASA’s livestream.