Artemis II Launch: Orion Crew Encounters Microsoft Outlook Glitch During Moon Mission

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket carried the Orion spacecraft and a four-person crew—the NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist), and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist)—on Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed lunar mission in more than five decades.

Shortly after liftoff, as the crew sped through space at about 4,275 mph, Mission Control reported a Microsoft 365 hiccup: one of the crew members mentioned two Microsoft Outlook applications on their device were not functioning. NASA has long standardized on Microsoft’s software across its operations, including some communications, though it’s not clear if Copilot or AI features played any role in this incident.

The moment involved a request to remotely diagnose the issue: the astronaut suggested NASA “remote in and check Optimus and those two Outlooks, that would be awesome.” The term Optimus referred to a separate problem, with the two Outlooks representing another potential glitch to investigate while in flight. A Personal Computing Device, likely a Windows laptop or Surface alongside other devices, was used with remote access to address the problem. The underlying cause of why there were two Outlooks on one device—one from Windows Mail and one from Office 365—was not immediately clear.

Neither Mission Control nor the crew sounded overly concerned. Outlook is used for some NASA-astronaut communications, but it isn’t the sole channel, as audio from the launch shows other lines of communication remaining active. The exchange occurred early in the flight, during the eight hours since liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and was livestreamed to the public.

By the time reports circulated, it seemed the systems had been rebooted and the Outlook apps were operating normally again. NASA had yet to publish a formal statement from Microsoft, but promised to share a response once available. The episode aside, Artemis II continues its journey as NASA’s next step toward a crewed human return to the Moon.

Artemis II is a landmark mission designed to validate crewed lunar operations and pave the way for future rounds of exploration beyond low Earth orbit. As the crew and ground teams navigate the mission, NASA’s broader aim remains advancing deep-space exploration with robust, redundant communication channels.