NASA uses iPhone 17 Pro Max
- NASA’s Artemis II crew carried iPhone 17 Pro Max handsets on its April 1 lunar test flight, using them for photos and video inside Orion. - NASA published iPhone-shot Moon flyby imagery on April 7, including Reid Wiseman’s April 6 “Earthset” view during a seven-hour far-side pass. - The phones flew as noncritical cameras after NASA safety reviews, not flight hardware. (nasa.gov)
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts took iPhone 17 Pro Max phones to the Moon as cameras, not as equipment that runs the spacecraft. (nasa.gov 1) (nasa.gov 2) Artemis II launched from Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 p.m. EDT on April 1, 2026, carrying Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day lunar test flight. (nasa.gov 1) (nasa.gov 2) NASA said the crew used the phones to capture images and video during the trip, while Orion continued to rely on its own mission systems for navigation, communications, and operations. (nasa.gov) (usatoday.com) The basic issue is safety, not picture quality. Any loose item in a spacecraft has to be checked for hazards such as broken glass, battery problems, sharp edges, or interference with other hardware. (usatoday.com) (9to5mac.com) That is why the iPhone story sits inside a larger NASA process. Reports citing NASA’s approval path described a four-step review that identifies hazards, plans mitigations, and verifies the device can fly without threatening the crew or capsule. (9to5mac.com) (appleinsider.com) The most visible result came on April 7, when NASA released Moon flyby images taken during the crew’s seven-hour pass around the lunar far side on April 6. The set included views of the Moon, a crescent Earth, and an in-space solar eclipse. (nasa.gov 1) (nasa.gov 2) NASA also published an “Earthset” image from April 6, showing Earth dropping behind the lunar horizon during the flyby. A later Astronomy Picture of the Day entry said commander Reid Wiseman shot a related video on an iPhone at 8x zoom. (nasa.gov) (apod.nasa.gov) The phone was not the only camera onboard. NASA’s released Artemis II imagery also includes photos credited to other hardware, including Nikon bodies used inside Orion on the return leg. (flickr.com) (flickr.com) NASA recovered Orion in the Pacific at 5:07 p.m. PDT on April 10, 2026, after a mission that took the crew farther from Earth than any humans had traveled before. The iPhone images are part of the public record from that flight, not evidence that NASA swapped consumer electronics into mission-critical roles. (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)
