NASA astronauts prove that sending an email really is rocket science

Before the Orion spacecraft adjacent launched connected Wednesday, NASA’s Artemis II satellite ngo — the archetypal successful 50 years — had already weathered a tempest of analyzable challenges, similar hydrogen and helium leaks, a faulty vigor shield, and technical issues with its information system. Now successful space, these 4 brave astronauts look their astir formidable obstacle yet: Microsoft Outlook.

In the archetypal of their 10 planned days successful space, Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman was having occupation utilizing Microsoft Outlook, truthful helium contacted Mission Control for tech support, according to the livestream of motorboat communications.

At first, Wiseman was having issues related to Optimus software, but past helium flagged a much pedestrian concern: There were 2 instances of Outlook moving connected his idiosyncratic computing device, oregon PCD — a Microsoft Surface Pro, per NASA.

“I besides spot that I person 2 Microsoft Outlooks, and neither 1 of those are working. If you privation to distant successful and cheque Optimus and those 2 Outlooks, that would beryllium awesome,” Wiseman said.

Soon aft Wiseman reported the issue, Mission Control brought the astronaut immoderate bully news.

“We wanted to fto Reid cognize we are done remoting into his PCD 1,” the idiosyncratic astatine Mission Control said. “We were capable to resoluteness the contented for Optimus, and for Outlook, we were capable to get it open. It volition amusement offline, which is expected.”

What are astronauts adjacent emailing about, anyway? Isn’t being successful abstraction crushed capable to acceptable an out-of-office response?

This wasn’t the lone earthly proceedings the astronauts faced. Soon aft takeoff, their toilet malfunctioned.

“The toilet instrumentality is reported to beryllium jammed,” NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said, according to a transcription from Space.com. “Now the crushed teams are coming up with instructions connected however to get into the instrumentality and wide that country to revive the toilet for the mission.”

They did person “backup discarded absorption capabilities,” according to Jordan, which is simply a relief. Worst lawsuit scenario, these astronauts would not person to unrecorded amongst floating fecal substance oregon thing (this is not a hypothetical concern). But nevertheless, our country’s foremost aerospace engineers managed to hole the toilet trouble, arsenic good arsenic Microsoft Outlook. And if they tin negociate that, they tin surely circumnavigate the moon.

I’d inquire NASA’s Mission Control if they could assistance maine with my ain Outlook woes, but they are astir apt a spot busy.

Neither NASA nor Microsoft responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comment.