- We receive photos of the Artemis II mission
- Some of them were taken with the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
- The mission is approaching the halfway point.
We know that the crew of the Artemis II mission took iPhones into space, and now we’re getting some stunning photos of the astronauts as they head toward the moon.
As shared by NASA, we have spectacular shots of Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman looking towards their home planet, as the Orion spacecraft zooms away from it, at speeds of thousands of miles per hour.
A quick review of the photos in the NASA archive (here and here) shows that both images were taken with the selfie camera of an iPhone 17 Pro Max. It’s the same model that earned a 4.5/5 star rating in its TechRadar review.
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The astronauts themselves share photos on social media: here’s another shot of Reid Wiseman, the 50-year-old appointed as the mission’s commanding general. The title simply says “There are no words.”
There and back again
This view is different 🌍 @Astro_Christina and @astro_reid take a moment to look back at Earth as they continue into space towards the Moon. pic.twitter.com/NMDeLj256KApril 4, 2026
There’s likely much more to come, too, as Orion reaches the moon, circles it, and returns home. We know that the spacecraft is equipped with laser communications technology that can maintain a high-speed connection with Earth.
NASA has also shared an image of the moon taken by the Artemis II crew, with the Eastern Basin visible on the lunar surface. This is apparently the first time the basin has been seen in its entirety with human eyes.
Once the astronaut team has circled the Moon and begun returning, they will have traveled farther from Earth than any human being before them: about 252,757 miles or 406,773 kilometers.
The mission is now in its fourth day and the entire trip is expected to last 10 days. When the Orion spacecraft returns to Earth orbit, it will mark another first: the fastest crewed re-entry ever attempted, at around 25,000 miles per hour (40,234 kilometers per hour).
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