More than half a century after the last human walk on the lunar surface, the Mission Artemis II It has become the great step before the definitive return to the Moon. This time, the spotlight isn't solely on the rocket or the spacecraft: inside the Orion capsule also travels a Next-generation iPhone heading to the lunar environment, something unprecedented in NASA's history.
The US space agency has decided to allow its astronauts to wear spacesuits for the first time. fully certified personal mobile phones on a manned mission beyond Earth's orbit. The result is a striking combination: the longest journey undertaken by a human being in decades, more than 400.000 kilometers from home, accompanied by a smartphone that anyone could have in their pocket.
Artemis II: A Historic Journey Around the Moon
Artemis II is the next big step after the Apollo missions, and will serve as dress rehearsal for astronauts to return to the Moon in Artemis III. The Orion spacecraft, launched by the SLS rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, will make a journey of about dice dÃas in which the crew will orbit the natural satellite and return to Earth.
During that journey, the astronauts will cross the earth's magnetosphere...the invisible shield that protects us from much of the space radiation and which no human being had left since the Apollo missions. When they complete the flyby of the far side of the Moon, they will have reached the greatest distance from Earth that a crew has ever achieved.
The mission begins with a rather careful profile: the first 24 hours They are dedicated to orbits around the Earth, first low and then high, to verify that all the spacecraft's systems are working correctly before starting the translunar trajectory.
Having passed that phase, Orion heads towards the Moon in a a trip of about four daysAfter which, the spacecraft will perform a flyby of the far side of the satellite at altitudes ranging from approximately 4.800 to 14.500 kilometers. Then, the capsule will begin its return to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.
The crew that takes an iPhone to lunar orbit
The human protagonist of this journey is a crew composed of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy HansenThe four share a cabin in the Orion spacecraft, which has become their home during the journey around the Moon.
In the videos that have begun circulating on social media, the daily life in microgravitywith the crew exchanging objects mid-flight. Among these objects, something quickly catches the eye: a mobile phone floating from hand to hand inside the ship.
That device is a iPhone 17 Pro Max It is silver in color and was specifically authorized by NASA for this mission. It is not an official scientific instrument or a navigation system; its primary function is that of any modern smartphone. take photos, record videos, and serve as a personal keepsake. for astronauts and their families.
The agency has indicated that the intention is to allow the crew to capture special moments and share inspiring images and videos with the world. This opens a closer and less formal window into the day-to-day experience of the journey, complementing the footage from the onboard cameras.
From Nikon to Apple: the long road to certifying a mobile phone
Until now, NASA had been particularly strict about the devices that could travel on its crewed missions. For years, Nikon was the only brand with approved cameras for regular use on board, the result of a long-term agreement with the Japanese company.
Models like the Nikon z9A high-end mirrorless camera, they were the last to pass the demanding certification process. Everything that was to be brought inside the ship had to undergo a battery of tests to ensure that The batteries did not pose a fire riskthat the materials did not fragment dangerously in microgravity and that the equipment did not interfere with communications systems or onboard electronics.
Apply these same criteria to a commercial smartphone that changes model every year It's not exactly simple. It wasn't impossible, but the agency wasn't in a great hurry to certify personal mobile phones when the bulk of the visual documentation was already covered with dedicated cameras.
The change has come with Artemis II and the everyday use it already made SpaceX of phones and tablets on its flights for almost a decade. The experience accumulated in those private missions has served as a reference for NASA to finally decide to update their protocols and allow smartphones and other consumer devices under a very defined security framework.
An iPhone fully certified to fly beyond orbit
The NASA administrator announced that the Artemis II crew I would travel with the latest generation mobile phones precisely to reinforce that human and personal side of the mission. Shortly after, Apple confirmed that this flight would be the first time that a iPhone is fully certified for extended use in orbit and beyond.
The phones travel configured in airplane modewithout access to conventional mobile networks. Instead, they connect to the internal network of the Orion spacecraftwhich is responsible for forwarding the data (photos, videos, and other files) to Earth using the spacecraft's own communication systems. For those wondering, There is no 5G coverage on the way to the Moon.
As part of the rating process, each iPhone goes through specific checks to ensure that It does not produce interference with critical instrumentation, that its battery does not present a risk of overheating in such a delicate environment and that the device can be used safely in microgravity conditions.
NASA insists that There is no commercial agreement or joint marketing campaign with Apple behind this decision. The fact that it's an iPhone is largely due to the fact that it's the dominant phone in the United States Since the mission is primarily American, the chosen model, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, is simply the latest and most advanced in that family.
An arsenal of cameras on the Orion spacecraft
The iPhone travels alongside a much more ambitious image capture system integrated into the spacecraft itself. The Orion capsule features 24 cameras distributed both inside and out, designed to withstand harsh conditions intense radiation and extreme temperature changes up to several hundred degrees.
The idea is that no phase of the flight goes undocumented: from liftoff, orbit insertion, and translunar burn, to the lunar flyby and atmospheric reentry before splashdown. All of this is recorded with a level of detail far superior to that of the Apollo missions, whose videos arrived grainy, cut, and delayed.
The set includes cameras installed in the European Service Module solar panels, capable of rotating and capturing images of the spacecraft with the Earth or the Moon in the background, generating some of the most spectacular space "selfies" ever taken.
To this are added the star navigation sensorsHigh-sensitivity cameras track stars to help determine the spacecraft's exact position. These optical systems act as a backup in case other, more conventional navigation methods fail.
Inside, the cockpit cameras They are responsible for capturing both the astronauts' reactions and the status of the control panels in high definition, allowing the control center in Houston to see virtually the same thing as the crew without having to rely solely on digital telemetry.
Laser communication and 8K video
The Artemis II imaging infrastructure is completed by the system O2O (Optical Orion Laser Communications)which uses optical laser communications instead of relying solely on traditional radio waves. This allows large volumes of video and photographic data to be sent back to Earth. very high resolutions with less delay and greater efficiency.
According to the technical documentation, Orion's cameras can reach resolutions up to 8K (7680 × 4320 pixels), with the possibility of recording at high frame rates, for example 120 fps in 4KThis is especially useful for analyzing in detail critical events such as the deployment of parachutes during the return.
Onboard storage is based on radiation-resistant SSD drivesdesigned to survive solar storms and other phenomena that could damage conventional storage media. Everything is designed to ensure that the material arrives on Earth intact, both in real time and on a delayed basis.
This array of cameras and optical systems makes Artemis II more than just a simple test flight: it is a authentic space cinematic production, intended to document with scientific precision and almost documentary quality each phase of the journey.
For the general public in Spain and the rest of Europe, this will translate into much closer and clearer images of what was never seen in the Apollo era, accessible through official NASA broadcasts and content that will be published by the astronauts themselves.
The role of the iPhone compared to professional cameras
Within that ecosystem of specialized cameras, the iPhone occupies a more prominent place. personal and informalWhile the Orion units have a clear mission of technical and scientific documentation, the smartphone functions as extension of daily life of the crew.
Photos and videos taken with a mobile phone don't compete with professional footage from the ship, but rather offer something different: improvised shots, everyday scenes and perspectives that would have been difficult to achieve with fixed cameras. The astronauts themselves decide what to capture and how to do it.
In a context where NASA wants to strengthen its ability to tell stories and bring space missions closer to the general publicThis type of spontaneous content is another piece of the strategy. It's about showing not only the rocket and the data, but also the human dimension of the journey.
When the mission returns, we expect to see Photographs and videos taken with an iPhone from about 400.000 kilometers from EarthSomething that until recently would have sounded more like an anecdote than reality. This blend of cutting-edge technology and everyday devices perfectly reflects the extent to which the boundary between life on land and life on board is gradually blurring.
All this movement fits into a broader trend within NASA: the protocol update to integrate tablets, smartphones, and other tools commonly used on Earth into the space environment, provided they pass the corresponding security checks. Artemis II is, in that sense, the first major showcase of this new way of working.
With Artemis II, lunar exploration enters a phase in which Images will no longer be something distant and grainy.Rather, it's a much more direct experience, with 8K footage from the spacecraft and scenes shot on a mobile phone that could be mistaken for those from any family trip, were it not for the Moon as a backdrop. For those following the mission from Spain or the rest of Europe, the feeling will be one of being a little closer to space, with technology playing the role of both scientific instrument and travel companion.
