Overview
- Commander Reid Wiseman reported Thursday that two copies of Microsoft Outlook were open on a crew computer and neither worked, prompting a request for Houston to remote in.
- Mission Control connected to the device and opened Outlook, which showed “offline” as expected for the configuration and did not affect any flight function.
- A separate issue with the toilet’s urine-extraction fan caused a jam early in the flight, and an astronaut cleared it so the bathroom could return to normal use.
- Outlook and similar Windows apps are commercial off‑the‑shelf tools used for schedules and personal notes, while navigation and life‑critical systems run on specialized, radiation‑hardened hardware with tightly tested software.
- NASA’s live YouTube feed carried the routine troubleshooting in real time, and clips of the exchange spread on social media with amused reactions to email support in deep space.