The Artemis II Mission crew that will orbit the moon will be the first in NASA history to be allowed to carry personal smartphones. This relaxation was granted by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman after taking into account the personal photos and videos that the 4 Artemis II crew can take during the 10-day mission.
Previously, all equipment that NASA wants to bring into space must pass various strict standards and tests. Each kilogram of cargo carried requires 20 kilograms of additional material. The equipment certification process takes a long time and is expensive.
The ban on bringing personal phones into space by NASA crews has meant that the photography equipment approved for the Artemis mission is a 2016 Nikon Z9 DSLR camera and a decade-old GoPro.
The Artemis II mission was scheduled to launch this weekend but was postponed to March after a fuel leak occurred during a pre-launch test conducted by NASA this week.
Only NASA imposes a ban on bringing personal smartphones. The crew of the private Polaris Dawn mission launched by SpaceX recorded their memories using an iPhone in 2024. The Polaris Dawn mission was accompanied by Jared Isaacman, who became the first private astronaut to perform an EVA. Blue Origin space tourists were also allowed to bring their own smartphones to share the recordings directly to social media to promote their journey.
