NASA astronauts have proven that sending an email is actually rocket science

At first, Weissman was having issues with Optimus, but then pointed out a more complex issue: There were two instances of Outlook running on his personal computer, or PCD — a Microsoft Surface Pro, according to NASA.

“I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither of them are working. If you wanted to go in remotely and check Optimus and those two Outlooks, that would be great,” Weisman said.

Shortly after Weisman reported the problem, Mission Control brought some good news to the astronaut.

“We wanted to let Reid know that we finished teleporting to his PCD 1,” the person at Mission Control said. “We were able to resolve the issue for Optimus, and for Outlook, we were able to open it. It will appear offline, which is to be expected.”

What do astronauts email anyway? Isn’t being in the space reason enough to develop an out-of-office response?

This was not the only terrestrial experience the astronauts encountered. Shortly after takeoff, their toilet malfunctioned.

“The toilet fan has been reported to have malfunctioned,” NASA spokesman Gary Jordan said, according to a Space.com transcript. “Now ground teams are providing instructions on how to enter the propeller and clear that area to revive the toilet for the mission.”

They had “spare waste management capabilities,” according to Jordan, which was a relief. In a worst-case scenario, astronauts wouldn’t have to live among floating feces or anything else (this isn’t a hypothetical concern). But nevertheless, the most important aeronautical engineers of our country were able to solve the problem of toilets, as well as Microsoft Outlook. If they can achieve this, they can certainly circumnavigate the moon.

I’d like to ask NASA Mission Control if they can help me with my Outlook issues, but they’re probably a bit busy.

Neither NASA nor Microsoft responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comment.