Judd Frieling, the Artemis flight director, has announced that the Microsoft Outlook problem is now fixed.
Judd Frieling, the Artemis flight director, has announced that the Microsoft Outlook problem is now fixed.
On Thursday, during Artemis II’s lunar voyage, commander Reid Wiseman experienced a tech glitch that many of us on Earth can sympathize with: Microsoft Outlook was having issues. In a dialogue captured in NASA’s Artemis livestream and posted on Bluesky, Wiseman informed Mission Control: “I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither is functioning.”
To address the situation, Mission Control needed to remotely access Wiseman’s personal computing device (PCD), which is a Microsoft Surface Pro. During a press conference on Thursday, Artemis flight director Judd Frieling stated that NASA had rectified the problem, explaining, “This isn’t unusual. We face this on station frequently. You know, sometimes Outlook struggles with configuration, especially when there’s no directly connected network. Essentially, we just needed to reload his Outlook files to get it operational.”
NASA communicates with Artemis II using a blend of its Near Space Network and Deep Space Network, relying on various antennas globally and satellites in orbit. Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, must switch communications between these networks as Artemis II travels further from Earth.
In addition to the Microsoft Surface Pro, the Artemis II crew’s equipment list features Nikon D5 DSLR cameras, a ZCube video encoder, and handheld GoPro cameras to capture footage for a Disney / National Geographic documentary. The crew was also permitted to bring their phones aboard — and you can see their phones being stored in their spacesuit pockets during NASA’s livestream.
