It was like this in my CS department a decade ago, too. There was me, one other gal, and for a while a German exchange student who wanted nothing to do with either of us in the entire grad program. I learned to talk a lot louder over the course of that program.
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/02/1191341035/nasa-voyager-2-spacecraft-contact
Sounds like it’s a recoverable error (if the scientists can’t do it the spacecraft has an automated process that’ll kick in in October.) Still, I can’t imagine what that must feel like.