Apparently you can't escape Microsoft Outlook issues even in space as Artemis II astronauts ask NASA for help with the software

Yesterday, April 1, Artemis II launched to start its mission to orbit the moon and lay the groundwork for future lunar missions. Important stuff. I'm sure NASA has got all its systems in order, no kinks to iron out, no oversi- oh no, wait, never mind, I see the Artemis II is hooked up with Outlook. And it looks like the Microsoft email and calendar suite is already causing problems for the astronauts:

"I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working. If you want to remote in and check the Optimus and those two Outlooks, that would be awesome."

Those are the words that recently sounded from Artemis II as one of the astronauts conveyed the issue back to NASA. Though it's worth noting we can't be certain the problem lies with Outlook rather than one of what I'm sure are many other systems at play in a spacecraft. NASA says they'll remotely connect to the computer to see what the problem is.

I can't imagine that much crucial will rest on whether Outlook is working or not, but it does at least go to show even the best and brightest among us can be victim of the simplest IT troubles. Largely because we're at the mercy of our tools.

Those tools will hopefully be improving soon, though. Microsoft has said that the company will be making '100% native' Windows programs, which is a change from the usually more laggy WebView apps, which are essentially browser apps wrapped up to run on Windows. Given the latest Outlook app is a WebView one, hopefully that will get a native re-build, too.

The improvements shouldn't be limited to apps, though, as Microsoft has recently said it's going to work on improving general Windows 11 performance and rolling back AI features. Part of that includes moving non-app elements such as the start menu to the WinUI3 native UI framework rather than WebView and React.

Hopefully no more software issues surface on the Artemis II mission, and hopefully Microsoft has all its improvements ready to ship before the Artemis III launch next year.

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