ET phone IT!
The Artemis II crew’s early tasks were disrupted by an issue with the shuttle’s Microsoft Outlook less than a day after blasting off into Earth’s orbit.
Reid Wiseman, the mission’s commander, reported the problem with the email app to the Houston-based mission control just seven hours after the rocket’s historic launch.
“I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working,” Wiseman could be heard saying over dispatch.
“If you want to remote in and check the Optimus and those two Outlooks that would be awesome,” he added.
Mission control said that they would join through the shuttle’s PCD, or their personal computing device, to patch the problem.
The PCD’s are specialized tablets the astronauts use to manage more menial tasks, like emailing clients back on Earth and parsing through mission manuals, throughout their 10-day voyage.
Wiseman was seen using one of the PCDs just before Wednesday’s takeoff, stunning eagle-eyed NASA fans who quickly made note of his now-formerly top secret passcode.
It’s not immediately clear when the glitch was resolved.
The four-person crew, three Americans and one Canadian, have encountered multiple gaffes since liftoff, including a clog in the high-tech lunar loo.
“The toilet fan is reported to be jammed,” NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said during live mission commentary, according to Space.com. “Now the ground teams are coming up with instructions on how to get into the fan and clear that area to revive the toilet for the mission.”
NASA officials assured that the toilet is still partially operational for fecal deposits — but no number ones for the time being.
The astronauts’ urine is typically collected through a hose and spat out into the void. Their feces is funneled through a tube and stored in containers, which aren’t disposed of until they land back on Earth.
