Artemis II Astronaut Reports Double Microsoft Outlook Glitch During Live Streamed Mission to Moon

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman reports a Microsoft Outlook bug in space, leading Houston's Mission Control to perform a remote repair during the moon mission.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 3, 2026, 3:34 PM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Tom's Hardware

Technical Glitches in Deep Space Navigation

A routine communication check during the Artemis II mission turned into a tech support session as Commander Reid Wiseman discovered a software anomaly while orbiting the moon. During a live stream of the journey, Wiseman informed Mission Control in Houston that his workstation was displaying two separate instances of Microsoft Outlook, neither of which was responding to commands. The unexpected software bug highlighted the challenges of using standard commercial applications in the high stakes environment of a deep space mission.

Mission Control Executes Remote Software Repair

In response to the commander’s report, ground technicians at Houston’s Mission Control requested permission to remote into the Orion spacecraft’s systems to diagnose the problem. The "Commercial Off-The-Shelf" software suite, which includes Windows and Office applications, is used by astronauts for personal messaging and scheduling rather than critical flight maneuvers. Approximately one hour after the initial report, the Capsule Communicator confirmed that the anomaly had been cleared and the software was back online, though it remained in an expected offline status due to the vessel's unique connectivity constraints.

Mechanical Failure Hits Spacecraft Waste Systems

The software issues were not the only technical hurdles the crew faced during the early stages of the mission. A blinking fault light signaled a mechanical failure in the Orion’s toilet system just two hours after launch, specifically involving a jam in the urine extraction fan. This fan is critical for managing liquid waste in a microgravity environment, and its failure posed a significant hygiene and operational risk to the four person crew. Fortunately, one of the astronauts was able to manually clear the obstruction, restoring the system to full functionality.