NASA just did something it hasn't allowed in over 60 years of human spaceflight - it's letting astronauts bring their personal smartphones into space. Starting with next week's Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station and the delayed Artemis II lunar flyby in March, iPhone and Android devices will officially replace the decade-old Nikon DSLRs and GoPros that have been the agency's standard imaging gear. The shift marks a surprising pivot for an agency notorious for slow hardware approval cycles, potentially transforming how space exploration gets documented for millions back on Earth.
NASA is finally catching up with the rest of us. For the first time in the agency's history, astronauts will carry their personal smartphones on missions - starting with Crew-12's launch to the International Space Station next week and the Artemis II lunar flyby scheduled for March.
The policy reversal comes after decades of NASA restricting astronaut photography equipment to certified hardware that often lagged years behind consumer technology. Until this announcement, the newest cameras approved for spaceflight were 10-year-old Nikon DSLRs and GoPros, according to Ars Technica.
"We are giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world," NASA administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on X, signaling what could become some of the most well-documented space missions in history.
The timing is significant. Artemis II represents humanity's first crewed journey beyond Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Now, instead of carefully staged photos from bulky DSLRs, the four-person crew will document their week-long lunar flyby with the same ultra-wide cameras and computational photography that everyday users rely on.
