On the primary mission to the moon since 1972, an iPhone 17 Professional Max floated by a digital camera overlooking the cockpit of the Artemis II spacecraft.
In a uncommon incidence, NASA permitted astronauts to fly with smartphones. NASA gave every astronaut an iPhone 17 Pro Max for taking pictures and movies. To this point, the astronauts have used their handsets to seize content material via the window of the spacecraft.
This view simply hits totally different 🌍
@Astro_Christina and @astro_reid take a second to look again at Earth as they proceed deep into area towards the Moon. pic.twitter.com/NMDeLj256K— NASA (@NASA) April 4, 2026
“We’re giving our crews the instruments to seize particular moments for his or her households and share inspiring photographs and video with the world,” Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, stated in a social media post in February. “Simply as necessary, we challenged longstanding processes and certified trendy {hardware} for spaceflight on an expedited timeline.”
NASA astronauts will quickly fly with the newest smartphones, starting with Crew-12 and Artemis II. We’re giving our crews the instruments to seize particular moments for his or her households and share inspiring photographs and video with the world. Simply as necessary, we challenged long-standing…
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) February 5, 2026
NASA additionally gave astronauts two Nikon D5s cameras and 4 GoPro Hero 11s. House crews don’t often carry these gadgets with them on their spacecraft. NASA has a course of for approving {hardware} for spaceflight that’s fairly prolonged. It contains 4 phases: introducing the {hardware} to a security panel, figuring out potential hazards of the {hardware}, laying out a plan for addressing these hazards, and proving this plan works.
This prolonged course of is to maintain astronauts secure, contemplating when materials shatters, it doesn’t simply keep on the bottom; it floats round in all places.
One final take a look at Earth earlier than we attain the Moon.
This view of the Earth was captured on April 5, the fourth day of the Artemis II mission, from contained in the Orion spacecraft. The 4 astronauts will attain their closest method of the Moon tomorrow, April 6. pic.twitter.com/z2NJUGWkKc
— NASA (@NASA) April 5, 2026
Apple reportedly had nothing to do with NASA’s approval course of for bringing iPhones on the Artemis II mission. It was additionally the primary time an iPhone certified for prolonged use in area. Nevertheless, it’s not the primary time an iPhone was introduced into area.
Smartphones have been introduced into area throughout non-public area missions. An iPhone was introduced on the Inspiration4 mission, operated by SpaceX, to take a photograph of the Earth. And in 2011, the crew of area shuttle mission STS-135 introduced two iPhone 4s handsets as an experiment.
You’ll be able to view the Artemis II iPhone pictures on the following Flickr hyperlinks: (1), (2), (3).
Header picture credit score: NASA
Through: The New York TimesÂ
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