In a moment that no smartphone manufacturer could have scripted better, NASA has released three breathtaking photographs taken aboard the Orion spacecraft during the ongoing Artemis II lunar mission, and they were captured not by a Nikon or a GoPro, but by an iPhone 17 Pro Max. NASA has shared three incredible photos shot on the iPhone 17 Pro Max by astronauts during the Artemis II mission to the Moon.
The images, now publicly available on NASA's official Flickr page, mark the first time a consumer-grade, current-generation smartphone has been used to document a crewed deep-space mission.
iPhone 17 Pro Max: What the three photos show
The photos show Artemis II's Commander Reid Wiseman and Mission Specialist Christina Koch looking back at Earth through one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows.
The first photograph, credited to Commander Wiseman, captures him framed against the porthole window of the Orion capsule, with a vivid, luminous Earth hanging in the pitch-black void of deep space behind him.
The second photograph, taken by Koch, mirrors this composition with her face reflecting both wonder and calm as our home planet glows in the background.
The third image presents a wider view of Earth from deep space, showing the curvature of the planet, swirling cloud formations, and the unmistakable blue of the oceans.
Metadata from Flickr reveals the photos were taken on April 2 using the iPhone 17 Pro Max's front camera. The metadata also reveals the images were processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic, likely to adjust exposure, contrast, and cropping.
iPhone 17 Pro Max: How it was cleared for space
This wasn't a last-minute decision. While NASA regularly flies specialised cameras on missions, Artemis II marked a notable first with the formal inclusion of Apple's iPhone 17 Pro Max devices on a NASA spacecraft. According to an AppleInsider report, the smartphones underwent a multi-phase safety evaluation before being cleared for flight, reflecting the agency's strict standards for hardware in the crew cabin.
NASA astronauts were given silver iPhone 17 Pro Max units for the Artemis II flight. The astronauts put the phone's hardware to work early, using the 8x optical zoom to photograph the upper stage of the rocket that propelled them into space. They also used the device to film the Orion capsule's movements during docking demonstrations, capturing the action in 4K Dolby Vision.
There were, however, strict limitations placed on the devices. NASA confirmed the devices cannot connect to the internet or use Bluetooth to prevent any interference with the spacecraft's sensitive communication arrays.
No Android phoen has ever done this
While Android devices have flown in space before, none have been used on a crewed deep-space mission to shoot images of Earth like this. Back in 2024, Samsung sent the Galaxy S24 into space, but that was a high-altitude balloon stunt that only reached the edge of the atmosphere. In contrast, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is flying aboard NASA's Artemis II mission, being used by astronauts themselves.
All other photos from the mission shared so far were captured with professional cameras such as the Nikon D5, Nikon Z 9, and GoPro HERO4 Black. The fact that the iPhone images stand shoulder-to-shoulder with imagery from these professional rigs speaks to just how far smartphone camera technology has come.
The mission behind the photos
Artemis II lifted off on April 1 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying four astronauts - Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen, and Christina Koch - on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back. The Orion capsule is set to return to Earth on April 10.
