During Thursday’s historic Artemis II mission to the Moon, a familiar technical hiccup occurred that many Earthlings can empathize with: a malfunctioning Microsoft Outlook. As captured on NASA’s Artemis livestream and later circulated on Bluesky, mission commander Reid Wiseman informed Mission Control about the issue, saying, “I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working.”

To remedy the situation, Mission Control had to remotely troubleshoot Wiseman’s personal computing device, which is a Microsoft Surface Pro. At a press conference on Thursday, Artemis flight director Judd Frieling assured the public that the problem had been resolved. He explained, “This is not uncommon. We experience this on the station frequently. Sometimes Outlook has trouble configuring, particularly when there isn’t a direct network connection. We simply had to reload his files on Outlook to get it operational again.”

NASA relies on a combination of the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network to maintain communication with Artemis II. This involves using a global array of antennas and orbiting satellites, with Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, managing the switch between these networks as the spacecraft journeys farther from Earth.

In addition to the Microsoft Surface Pro, the Artemis II crew is equipped with a range of technology, including Nikon D5 DSLR cameras, a ZCube video encoder, and handheld GoPro cameras, which will capture footage for an upcoming Disney/National Geographic documentary. Crew members also have their personal phones onboard, which are visible being tucked into their spacesuit pockets during NASA’s livestream.