Summary
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The new Outlook program is buggy and unpopular; NASA astronauts faced similar problems during the launch of Artemis II.
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Mission Control remotely patched Outlook on the crew computer during launch.
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The email hiccup didn’t pose a threat to Artemis II, but it made Microsoft look stupid in live communications.
Ever since Microsoft released its new Outlook client, people are not too happy about it. From missing features to poor performance, Microsoft had a real problem getting people right with the updated version of the app.
Well, if you’re not a fan of the new Outlook, you may have confirmed that NASA feels the same way. The new Outlook client caused problems for astronauts during the last Artemis II launch, so bad that Mission Control had to connect to the spacecraft’s computer to fix it remotely.
Microsoft’s Outlook client caused some minor problems when launching Artemis II
Yes, even NASA doesn’t get preferential treatment with Microsoft’s software
If you haven’t been following what’s been going on at NASA, it recently launched a successful mission for the Artemis II mission. It involves sending a crew of astronauts on a ten-day mission to orbit the moon. The crew won’t land on the moon, but if all goes well, they’ll go further than any human has ever gone into space. This is part of NASA’s quest to gradually expand its coverage with future launches.
People around the world tuned in to watch the launch and hear the conversation between the rocket and Mission Control as the mission progressed. At one point, one of the astronauts, Commander Reid Wiseman, tries to use the Microsoft Surface Pro and runs into a problem. In between conversations, Wiseman says:
“Yeah, go ahead. I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither of them are working. If you want to log in remotely and check on Optimus and those two Outlooks, that would be great.”
Mission Control has confirmed that it will help astronauts with the double Outlook problem. There’s a good chance the mission’s integrity isn’t compromised because the astronauts can’t get their email, but it was a particularly funny moment to see NASA struggle with the same problems as us, even if it made Microsoft look a little silly in the process.
