Overview
- NASA’s new policy begins with SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station expected next week and the Artemis II lunar flyby targeted for March.
- Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the change on X, saying crews will be able to capture moments for their families and share images and video with the public.
- Isaacman said NASA challenged long-standing processes and qualified modern hardware on an accelerated timeline.
- Before this shift, Artemis II planned to fly with a 2016 Nikon DSLR and decade-old GoPro cameras, underscoring how slowly newer tech had been adopted.
- Smartphones have flown previously, including two iPhone 4s on the 2011 shuttle mission and devices carried on private Polaris and Axiom flights.