Overview
- 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.
- The policy takes effect on the ISS-bound Crew-12 mission next week and on Artemis II, now targeting March after wet dress rehearsal hydrogen-leak troubleshooting.
- NASA says it challenged long-standing approval processes and expedited qualification while retaining testing for risks like radiation, thermal behavior, outgassing, vibration and RF effects.
- The first flights will use iPhones provided by NASA, with the agency indicating other devices could be certified later as engineers manage potential radio interference.
- Phones have flown on private missions before, but NASA had not licensed them on its spacecraft, and the switch replaces reliance on older DSLRs and GoPros with more spontaneous documentation tools.