Astronauts at the moment are in a position to carry fashionable smartphones on area missions, according to an X post from NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. The coverage will start with the SpaceX Crew-12 and Artemis II missions.
The SpaceX Crew-12 mission is scheduled to launch Feb. 11 and can carry 4 astronauts to the Worldwide Area Station. NASA’s Artemis II mission is predicted to launch in March; it is going to ship 4 astronauts on a 10-day flight that can circle the moon and return to Earth.
“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,” Isaacman wrote.
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 essential, we challenged long-standing…
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) February 5, 2026
An Apple consultant famous in an e mail to CNET that this was “the primary time [the] iPhone has been absolutely certified for prolonged use in orbit and past.”
“Till now, astronauts have been largely restricted to legacy cameras and older imaging tools,” the spokesperson mentioned.
NASA didn’t point out particular telephone manufacturers or fashions in its publish.
Ars Technica reported that area missions presently use 2016 Nikon DSLR and GoPro cameras.
Pictures has performed an essential function in area missions because the Apollo missions of the Sixties and Seventies. Apollo 11 astronauts, the primary people to step on the moon, captured iconic pictures of their famed July 1969 mission with specifically modified Hasselblad cameras.
