NASA under fire for 'unforgivable' Artemis 2 coverage as viewers notice awkward streaming glitch

Documentation of historic events is almost as important as the events themselves, and many feel like NASA has let them down after live streams of Artemis 2 have been plagued with frustrating bugs and glitches.

Not everyone has the luxury of travelling within view of the Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of the Artemis 2 mission, with millions across the nation and wider globe relying on live streams and TV coverage to keep up to date with the historic moment.

NASA was thankfully well prepared for this as they set up widespread coverage of the launch across several social media platforms, and while the event itself went off without hitch – outside of one issue that cropped up after the spacecraft was already in the air – the same unfortunately can't be said for the streams.

Many have expressed their dissatisfaction towards footage captured officially by NASA of the launch and then live views from the Orion spacecraft as it travels towards the Moon's orbit, with numerous glitches preventing people from enjoying the spectacle.

Referencing the footage captured of the launch, one Reddit thread complains about "broken on-screen countdown timers, lens covers still on during launch, and a terrible effort at tracking the vehicle as it cleared the tower," calling the experience as a whole "unforgivably terrible."

What's worse, those issues have extended beyond the launch and have reached a point of becoming unwatchable, as another thread points towards the fact that "for the past 30 minutes it's been nothing but a blue screen with the occasional audio."

NASA has explained that the latter issue is due to either a loss of signal on board the Orion or a requirement of bandwidth for other activities, yet the sheer length of downtime has prompted many to complain.

"As bandwidth allows, this stream will feature live views from the Orion spacecraft, without commentary, as it makes its journey around the Moon," the description of the live stream details.

"Viewers will see a blue screen if there is a loss of signal, or if the bandwidth is needed for mission activities. Viewers may see what appears to be a black screen when the vehicle is in darkness."

Some have joked that the blue screen moments are when the ship's computer systems are installing Windows updates or encountering the dreaded BSOD, with one user on X joking: "Microsoft out here glitching while humans are floating 41,000 miles above Earth."

Taking a look at the official livestream you can see stretches where footage is visible, showing little more than the endless black of space alongside the edge of the Orion spaceship, but those sparse moments are still awe-inspiring and enough to impress even alongside the repeated glitches.

We should probably be amazed that a spaceship on its way to the Moon is able to get enough signal to livestream in the first place, but you can't blame people for their frustration when what they've been promised – as remarkable as it is – doesn't work.