NASA Allows Astronauts to Bring Smartphones into Space.

NASA announced that Crew-12 and Artemis II will be the first missions to carry personal smartphones, a policy change meant to let crews capture more personal photos and video. Photos cannot be sent directly in space; crews must upload images to spacecraft systems and relay them to NASA via encoded satellite transfers.

NASA has changed its policy to allow astronauts to bring personal smartphones on certain missions. Administrator Jared Isaacman announced on X that crews on Crew-12 and Artemis II will be the first to carry phones beyond Earth. The agency said the decision updated long-standing processes and involved qualifying modern hardware for spaceflight on an expedited timeline. Phones are expected to let crews capture more personal photos and video than the more cumbersome cameras used previously. Key details: - Jared Isaacman announced on X that Crew-12 and Artemis II will carry personal smartphones into space. - Crew-12 launched from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 13 and is headed to the International Space Station; its crew includes Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev. - Artemis II is expected to launch no earlier than March and will perform a lunar flyby; NASA describes the mission as a step toward a long-term return to the Moon and future missions to Mars. - Phones cannot connect to internet or cellular networks in space; astronauts must upload photos to spacecraft devices and send those files to NASA via satellite as encoded data for decoding and public sharing. - Prior to this change, crew members used bulkier digital cameras for photography, according to Engadget. Summary: Allowing smartphones is intended to give crews more flexibility to capture personal moments and to modernize hardware used in flight. Crew-12 has already launched with phones aboard, and NASA plans to include phones on Artemis II; images taken in space will be relayed to Earth through encoded satellite transfers.