Summary
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The new Outlook app is buggy and unpopular; NASA astronauts had similar problems during the launch of Artemis II.
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Mission Control remotely fixed Outlook on the crew’s PC during launch.
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The email problem didn’t endanger Artemis II, but it made Microsoft look foolish in live communications.
Ever since Microsoft launched its new Outlook client, people haven’t been very happy with it. From missing features to mediocre performance, Microsoft has had a real problem getting people to adapt to the revamped version of the app.
Well, if you’re not a fan of the new Outlook, you might feel justified that NASA feels the same way you do. The new Outlook client caused problems for astronauts during the recent Artemis II launch, and it got so bad that Mission Control had to connect to the spacecraft’s PC to fix it remotely.
Microsoft’s Outlook client caused some minor problems during the launch of Artemis II
Yes, not even NASA gets preferential treatment with Microsoft software
If you haven’t been keeping up with what’s going on with NASA, they recently had a successful launch for the Artemis II mission. It involves sending a squadron of astronauts on a ten-day mission to go around the moon. The crew won’t land on the moon, but if all goes well, they will travel further into space than any human has ever gone. It’s part of NASA’s quest to gradually expand its reach with future launches.
People from all over the world tuned in to watch the launch and listen to the chatter between the rocket and Mission Control as the mission progressed. At one point, one of the astronauts, Commander Reid Wiseman, tries to use his Microsoft Surface Pro and encounters a problem. Between the talk, Wiseman says the following:
“Yes, do it. And I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither of them work. If you want to remotely access and check the Optimus and those two Outlooks, that would be great.”
Mission Control confirmed it would help astronauts with the double Outlook problem. There’s a good chance that the integrity of the mission won’t be compromised because the astronauts can’t receive their emails, but it was a particularly fun moment to see NASA struggle with the same problems we are, even if it made Microsoft look a little silly in the process.
