NASA fixes Outlook glitch during Artemis II Moon flight

NASA said it resolved a Microsoft Outlook malfunction during the Artemis II mission as the spacecraft continued its trip toward the Moon. The issue surfaced on Thursday and was discussed on NASA’s Artemis livestream, where commander Reid Wiseman told Mission Control that two instances of Microsoft Outlook appeared on his system and neither was functioning.

To address the problem, Mission Control remotely connected to Wiseman’s personal computing device (PCD), which NASA identified as a Microsoft Surface Pro. During a Thursday press conference, Artemis flight director Judd Frieling said the problem had been fixed and described the remedy as reloading Wiseman’s Outlook files to restore operation.

Frieling said the type of issue was familiar in space operations, noting that configuration problems can occur when a device is not on a directly connected network. He characterized the fix as routine and said similar situations happen “on-station all the time,” according to his remarks at the press conference.

NASA communications for Artemis II rely on a combination of the agency’s Near Space Network and Deep Space Network, using satellites in orbit and antennas located around the world. Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, manages communications and shifts links between these networks as Artemis II moves farther from Earth, NASA said.

The Outlook incident also highlighted the mix of consumer and specialized equipment carried on the mission. In addition to the Microsoft Surface Pro, the Artemis II crew’s listed gear includes Nikon D5 DSLR cameras, a ZCube video encoder, and handheld GoPro cameras intended to capture footage for a Disney / National Geographic documentary.

NASA’s livestream also showed that the crew was permitted to bring personal phones, which could be seen stored in spacesuit pockets. While NASA said the Outlook issue was resolved, the episode underscored that everyday software can still encounter problems in environments where connectivity depends on managed links across multiple space communications systems.