The topic Microsoft’s Outlook failed so badly during NASA’s Artemis II mission that… is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Ever since Microsoft released its new Outlook client, people haven’t been too pleased with it. From missing features to lacklustre performance, Microsoft has had a real problem with getting people to gel with the revamped version of the app.
Well, if you’re not a fan of the new Outlook, you may feel vindicated that NASA feels the same way as you. The new Outlook client caused issues for the astronauts during the recent Artemis II launch, and it got so bad that Mission Control had to connect to the spaceship’s PC to fix it remotely.
If you haven’t been keeping tabs on what’s going on with NASA, it recently had a successful launch for the Artemis II mission. This involves sending a squad of astronauts on a ten-day mission to go around the moon. The crew won’t land on the moon, but if everything goes well, they will go 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 around the world tuned in to watch the launch and hear 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 their Microsoft Surface Pro and encounters an issue. Among the chatter, Wiseman says the following:
“Yeah, go for it. And I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither of those work. If you want to remote in and check the Optimus and those two Outlooks, that would be awesome.”
Mission Control confirmed it would help the astronauts with the double Outlook issue. There’s a good chance that the integrity of the mission won’t be compromised because the astronauts can’t get their emails, but it was a particularly funny moment to see NASA struggle with the same issues we have, even if it did make Microsoft look a little foolish in the process.