Getting astronauts to space and safely landing them on the Moon necessitates advanced technology. However, NASA has decided to ease some restrictions on personal technology, allowing astronauts to take along some non-essential gadgets. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced on X that future missions will permit astronauts to carry modern smartphones, elevating their ability to document their experiences.
“NASA astronauts will soon be equipped with the latest smartphones starting with Crew-12 and Artemis II,” Isaacman shared. “This change enables our crews to capture memorable moments for their families and share inspiring images and videos globally.” While iPhones will initially be included, there are possibilities for approval of other smartphones in the future. Although the images captured may not reach the caliber of those from the James Webb Space Telescope, these smartphone cameras are expected to provide stunning visuals of outer space.
These devices will undoubtedly outperform the previous approved equipment for the Artemis II mission, which consisted of a 2016 Nikon DSLR and GoPros that were considered cutting-edge a decade ago. Overall, this development represents a significant shift in policies. However, the process of approving iPhones for space missions reveals a deeper insight into NASA’s evolving regulations.
Transforming NASA’s Protocols
The inclusion of iPhones for SpaceX’s Crew-12 and Artemis II missions represents not only a triumph for astronaut documentation in space but also a fundamental shift in NASA’s procedures. Jared Isaacman highlighted in his post that authorizing smartphones for space travel required significant alterations to the traditional NASA approval protocols, which have been known to be laborious and filled with a multitude of requirements and tests. Therefore, Isaacman’s initiative to challenge and streamline these regulatory steps signifies a notable bureaucratic advancement for NASA. Interestingly, this isn’t the inaugural instance of iPhones making their way to space.
The decision to relax mobile phone policies follows the earlier approval of iPhones for orbital missions. In 2011, two iPhone 4 units, despite their reputation as one of the less favorable models, were sent aboard the shuttle Atlantis for the SpaceLab project to aid in various scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station. According to NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens, iPhones have been utilized on commercial space flights for around ten years.
SpaceX’s Crew-12 successfully launched on February 13, and NASA’s Artemis II is set to commence on March 6. The anticipation is that the photos and videos captured by the astronauts equipped with iPhones will quickly become part of historical records.
