It's 'One Giant Leap' for the Smartphone

NASA is loosening one of its more old-school rules: it's finally letting astronauts take smartphones into space. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced that crews on the upcoming Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station and the Artemis II lunar flyby will be allowed to bring "the latest smartphones," per Ars Technica. In a post on X, Isaacman said the devices will help astronauts capture personal moments for their families and share photos and video with the public. Until now, space crews have largely relied on agency-issued cameras and tablets for documentation and communication.

Isaacman framed the move as part of a broader push to streamline NASA's hardware approval process, which he suggested has become clogged with outdated requirements. Getting electronics qualified for spaceflight typically involves extensive testing. But Isaacman said NASA had "qualified modern hardware for spaceflight on an expedited timeline" and argued that challenging legacy rules will help the agency move faster on science and exploration "in orbit and on the lunar surface."

The shift also underscores how far NASA's onboard imaging tech had fallen behind consumer gear. Before the new policy, the most advanced cameras slated to fly on Artemis II were a Nikon DSLR introduced in 2016 and decade-old GoPro cameras. Astronauts on the International Space Station have typically used tablets to connect with family and the Internet. However, astronauts on private space flights have been carrying smartphones for almost a decade, per Quartz. A pair of iPhone 4s also flew on the final Space Shuttle program mission in 2011.