About four hours after launch - the first lunar mission since 1972 - a silver iPhone was captured floating inside the Orion spacecraft cabin. The device drifted from Jeremy Hansen, passed over Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover, before landing near Christina Koch.

This marks one of the first times NASA has allowed astronauts to bring modern smartphones into space. Each crew member received an iPhone during quarantine, which began in March.

However, the devices cannot be used for FaceTime calls or gaming once in orbit. According to NASA, the phones are stripped of Internet and Bluetooth capabilities and are used primarily for photography and video recording.

So far, astronauts aboard Orion have used the phones to capture images through the spacecraft windows, including views of the rocket’s upper stage. Koch and Hansen also filmed Glover and Wiseman as the capsule maneuvered around the rocket - an operation simulating how Orion might dock with a future lunar lander.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shared in February that the agency aims to equip astronauts with tools to preserve meaningful moments for their families and inspire audiences worldwide. He noted that NASA had also streamlined long-standing approval processes to allow modern hardware to be used in spaceflight within a record timeframe.

Despite being launched only last September, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is not the sole imaging device onboard Orion. The crew also carries two Nikon D5 cameras, introduced in 2016, and four GoPro Hero 11 units released in 2022.

Tobias Niederwieser, associate research professor at the BioServe Space Technologies Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder, explained that approving hardware for space missions is typically complex and time-consuming.

The process involves four stages: presenting the device to a safety board, identifying potential hazards such as fragile glass materials, developing mitigation plans, and demonstrating the effectiveness of those plans.

“You can imagine fragile materials floating freely in the cabin. They don’t fall to the ground, and you’re not protected just because you’re wearing shoes,” Niederwieser said.

These procedures are designed to protect both the crew and the spacecraft. In the microgravity environment of a sealed cabin, objects behave very differently from on Earth. For example, NASA had to consider using Velcro to secure the phones inside Orion. Before launch, at least one device was stored safely in a flight suit pocket.

Apple confirmed it was not involved in the approval process for using the iPhone on the Artemis II mission. The company noted that this marks the first time an iPhone has met the standards required for extended use in orbit and beyond.

Smartphones have previously traveled to space, mainly on private missions. In 2021, Isaacman used an iPhone to photograph Earth while commanding the SpaceX-operated Inspiration4 mission. Earlier, in 2011, astronauts on the final Space Shuttle mission STS-135 carried two iPhone 4 devices for experimental purposes.

Du Lam