NASA Astronauts To Carry iPhones On Artemis II And ISS Missions, Replacing Decade-Old Cameras

NASA astronauts are officially into modern smartphone ownership, even as their workplace extends up to 250,000 miles away from Earth. With future missions like the Artemis II lunar flyby and the Crew-12 International Space Station expedition on the way, astronauts will use Apple’s newest iPhones rather than lugging around outdated, bulky cameras to photograph their travels. The decision is a sign that the navy is moving closer to modern means of transporting and better documenting its crews’ historic journeys, as well as sharing more moments with their families and the general public.

iPhones Headed to the Moon and the ISS

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed that crews on the Crew-12 ISS mission and the Artemis II lunar flyby will take modern smartphones into space. Announcing the update on X, he said the goal is to help astronauts “capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and videos with the world.”

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On Artemis II, astronauts will be the first humans to fly around the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. And, unlike their predecessors, they will track the journey with pocket-sized iPhone cameras and not Nikon DSLRs that hit the market in 2016 or GoPros that are close to a decade old.

Cutting Through NASA’s Slow Approval Process

According to Isaacman, the move goes beyond improved photography. It is part of a broader effort to streamline NASA’s hardware qualification process, which typically includes:

- Radiation exposure testing

- Battery thermal and safety checks

- Vacuum and vibration testing

- Outgassing evaluations

“We challenged long-standing processes and qualified modern hardware for spaceflight on an expedited timeline,” Isaacman said, noting that this operational urgency will benefit future science missions in orbit and on the Moon.

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Smartphones Have Reached Space Before

It’s not the first time that smartphones have flown in orbit. Two iPhone 4 devices flew on the last Space Shuttle mission in 2011, but they had restricted usage. Just a reminder: Astronauts flying private missions have also brought personal devices, though ISS crews have mostly relied on tablets to access the internet and call loved ones.