La NASA has given the green light for astronauts to take smartphones, including iPhones, on their upcoming missions to the Moon and the International Space Station.What until now sounded more like a social media joke than official policy has become a historic decision that will directly affect Crew-12 and Artemis II, the key manned missions of the US space program for the coming months.
With this change, the US space agency breaks a decades-long tradition in which Modern personal devices were virtually banned on board shipsFrom now on, astronauts will be able to use state-of-the-art mobile phones as pocket cameras and personal tools to document their experience, always within strict safety limits and without them being part of critical mission systems.
What exactly has NASA announced about iPhones on the Moon?
The person responsible for breaking the news was Jared Isaacman, NASA administratorthrough a post on social network X. In his message, he explained that The astronauts on the Crew-12 and Artemis II missions will be able to fly with the latest smartphones, a change of policy that had been discussed internally for some time, but that no one expected to see confirmed so soon.
According to Isaacman, The priority of this measure is to give crews family tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and videos with the worldIn other words, NASA assumes that a modern mobile phone is, in practice, a very powerful and always available camera, perfect for capturing spontaneous scenes that are often missed with traditional onboard photographic equipment.
The administrator also emphasized that This is not simply a "nice" concession to the astronauts.but rather a deeper shift in mindset within the agency. In his words, the decision is also a deliberate exercise in “Challenging legacy processes” and accelerating the certification of modern hardware so that it can be used safely in orbit and in the future human presence on the lunar surface.
At the moment, NASA has not made any public statements. which exact models of iPhone or other smartphones It's unclear whether they will be part of the missions, or if they will be personal terminals for the astronauts or units specifically prepared for flight. Everything suggests they will be devices selected and tested beforehand, and not mobile phones that each astronaut simply takes from their pocket before boarding the spacecraft.
Why iPhones and other mobile phones will now be allowed on Artemis II
For decades, NASA's protocols were extremely strict with any electronic device not expressly designed for space.The risk of interference with the ship's systems, the potential problems of empty batteries, radiation, and the need to reduce any possibility of failure made modern mobile phones unsuitable even for personal use.
To approve a device, the agency requires comprehensive tests for resistance to radiation, vibration, vacuum, extreme temperatures and degassing of materialsMany commercial products were abandoned simply because the validation process was too slow or expensive compared to the benefit they could bring to the mission. That's why, in Artemis II, the most advanced camera initially planned was a 2016 Nikon DSLR, accompanied by action cameras that are nearly a decade old.
With this new approach, Isaacman indicates that NASA has decided to accelerate and adjust these processes, without compromising safety.The idea is not to open the door for any consumer gadget to fly uncontrollably, but to identify non-critical use cases where devices like a smartphone can add value without jeopardizing the mission.
Another piece of the puzzle is the communications plans for the lunar environment. NASA itself, along with partners such as Nokia has been working on 4G/LTE networks adapted for the Moon for some time.designed primarily for rovers and scientific equipment. Although astronauts' mobile phones won't function as if they were connected to a terrestrial network, These developments show that the communications infrastructure around the Moon is evolving. And that, in the medium term, it is not unreasonable to think about some degree of mobile connectivity in future lunar bases.
In any case, the agency has made it clear that Smartphones will be used in offline mode during missionsThey will be useful for taking photos, recording video, jotting down quick notes and using applications that do not require a connection, but not for making phone calls or browsing the internet as we would on Earth.
How phones will be used in orbit and on the Moon
One of the most frequently asked questions on social media since the announcement has to do with something very basic: How is an astronaut going to use an iPhone while wearing a pressurized spacesuit and thick gloves? Current suits are not designed to interact with standard touchscreens, so taking a photo with a simple touch of a finger is not as easy as it seems.
NASA is exploring technical solutions so that Mobile phones can be activated without physically pressing the screen.This can involve using timers, voice triggers, predefined gestures, or even integrations with other systems in the spacesuit or life support backpack. The important thing is that the astronaut can frame and record the moment without compromising other tasks or their own safety.
Another key aspect is the Lithium batteries and their behavior in spaceIn an environment where a leak, overheating, or unexpected failure can have serious consequences, the agency has subjected the devices to rigorous testing. specific safety tests to ensure they pose no risk to either the spacecraft or the crew. This is one of the points that generates the most questions among the public, and NASA is addressing it with internal data and certifications, although without going into too much technical detail for the press.
Despite these challenges, the appeal of phones is clear: A single device combines a high-quality camera, annotation tools, content playback, timing, and morewith an interface that astronauts already know by heart. This reduces training time and makes its integration into the daily life of the mission more natural, both on the International Space Station and on the journey around the Moon.
In practice, NASA seeks to Mobile phones complement professional camerasNot that they will replace them. Scientific images and official documentation tasks will remain the responsibility of the designated teams, while the smartphone will serve as a kind of digital pocket notebook with which to capture "life on board" from a more personal perspective.
Artemis II and Crew-12: the first missions to debut personal mobile phones
The new policy will be launched with two very different but equally important missions. On the one hand, crew-12a joint NASA-SpaceX mission intended to to take four astronauts to the International Space Station to reinforce the crew after a previous medical evacuation. On the other hand, Artemis II, the great dress rehearsal for the human return to the Moon.
Artemis II will be NASA's first manned lunar mission in more than half a centuryThe Orion capsule, propelled by the rocket Space Launch System (SLS)It will perform a flyby of about ten days around the unlanded satellite, checking all the life support and communication systems that will be needed later for Artemis III and subsequent missions, now with landing on the surface.
The crew of Artemis II consists of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy HansenGlover will become the first African American to travel to the lunar vicinity, while Koch will be the first woman to do so, and Hansen will fly as a representative of the Canadian Space Agency. Everything indicates that They will be the first humans to take a consumer smartphone so far from Earth.
From Europe and Spain, the mission is being followed with particular interest, since Several European companies and technology centers are involved in key systems of Orion and in elements of the Artemis programAlthough the mobile phones that will fly are expected to be very popular models in the United States, NASA's openness to modern commercial hardware also sends a clear message to the European industry: there is room for solutions developed here to find their place in future missions, provided they pass the demanding certification tests.
If everything goes according to plan, Artemis II will launch following a schedule adjustment prompted by fuel leaks detected in previous SLS tests.These technical delays have forced a change in the mission, but they have also provided more time to finish validating the new devices that will travel on board, including smartphones.
A precedent: Apple and other personal devices in space
Although this is the first time NASA has clearly allowed it such direct use of smartphones in a lunar missionThis isn't the first time consumer products—and Apple products in particular—have ventured beyond Earth. Over the years, Several devices from the brand have accumulated their own little orbital history.
In the nineties, A Macintosh laptop flew twice aboard the space shuttle.Its main function was to test how graphical interfaces and input devices behaved in microgravity, at a time when NASA was still working with computers operated almost exclusively by keyboard. In fact, in In 1991, the first email was sent from space. thanks to a Macintosh and AppleLink software during the STS-43 mission of the space shuttle Atlantis.
Years later, other devices from the Californian company followed the same path. The iconic iPod appeared in the hands of astronauts on the International Space StationPrimarily used as a music player in experiments and during breaks, some have even been used in medical and cognitive studies, integrated into broader protocols.
En In 2011, two iPhone 4s flew on the final mission of the space shuttle Atlantis.Those phones were intended for specific tests and applications created for the space environment, although the extent to which the crew used them was never entirely clear. More recently, iPad and Apple Watch They have been frequently seen on the ISS
In addition to official NASA flights, Private missions have been a testing ground for the more relaxed use of mobile phones and other devices.In expeditions such as Polaris Dawn or the Axiom Space missions On the International Space Station, astronauts were already traveling with smartphones without the same restrictions imposed by the public agency. That prior experience has served, in part, as a reference for the step NASA is now taking with Artemis II and Crew-12.
The humanization of space and its impact on the public
Beyond the technical aspects, the decision to allow an astronaut to take out their mobile phone to take a picture with the Earth or the Moon in the background It has an obvious symbolic component. NASA recognizes that we live in an era where much of communication relies on the visual language we all use daily: spontaneous photos, short videos, clips shared almost in real time.
The agency is confident that Content generated by the astronauts themselves using their mobile phones will bring the missions even closer to the general public.In contrast to the classic, highly institutional and filtered image, these new materials will offer more everyday scenes: what life is really like inside the spacecraft, what it feels like to see the planet through the window, or how the crew reacts to an orbital sunrise.
Social media users have already started joking about the situation, imagining an astronaut asking for a USB-C charger because he left it in the module or checking notifications with their helmet on. Humor aside, the underlying point is that Space is increasingly perceived less as something distant and reserved for a few "superheroes"and more as a work environment—and a living environment—in which people maintain customs and tools very similar to our own.
For NASA itself, this proximity is no small detail. The agency competes for attention in a saturated media ecosystem, and Images and videos recorded from a mobile phone can connect with young audiences who might not be interested in a technical report or a press conference.In Europe and Spain, where interest in space coexists with many other news priorities, this type of content can help keep the conversation alive about the Artemis program and the scientific and industrial opportunities it opens up.
In the end, what's at stake is not just selfies with the moon in the backgroundBut it's not just the way we recount and remember this human return to the lunar environment that matters. As with the black-and-white images of Apollo, the footage captured now—whether technically perfect or not—will likely be the ones etched in our collective memory.
Overall, NASA's decision to let astronauts take iPhones and other smartphones to the Moon marks an interesting turn: It opens the door to using everyday technology in extreme scenarios, forces a review of old procedures, and promises a much more direct and human narrative for upcoming missions., in which Europeans and Spaniards also have part of the future of their space industry at stake.