As we beforehand reported, astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft used the iPhone 17 Professional Max to take selfies of themselves with the Earth within the background through the Artemis II mission across the far aspect of the Moon final week.

Now that the crew members have safely returned to Earth, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook dinner and advertising and marketing chief Greg Joswiak have each turned to social media to congratulate them on their profitable mission and spotlight the iPhone’s involvement.
“You captured the wonders of house and our planet superbly, taking iPhone images to new heights, and we’re grateful you shared it with the world,” wrote Cook dinner. “Your work continues to encourage us all to assume totally different. Welcome residence!”
Congratulations to Artemis II on a profitable mission! You captured the wonders of house and our planet superbly, taking iPhone images to new heights, and we’re grateful you shared it with the world. Your work continues to encourage us all to assume totally different. Welcome residence!
— Tim Cook dinner (@tim_cook) April 11, 2026
“Honored that NASA astronauts introduced iPhone to house with them,” mentioned Joswiak. “One small step for iPhone. One big leap for house selfies.”
In February, NASA introduced that the iPhone had been absolutely certified for prolonged use in orbit, with experiences indicating that every of the 4 crew members aboard the Orion had been outfitted with an iPhone 17 Professional Max for private pictures and movies.
The pictures present Artemis II’s Commander Reid Wiseman and Mission Specialist Christina Koch trying again at Earth by way of one of many Orion’s major cabin home windows. Flickr information signifies that these pictures had been shot with the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s front-facing digicam on April 2, which was the second day of the mission.

Shot on iPhone 17 Professional Max (Wiseman)
Shot on iPhone 17 Professional Max (Koch)Most different pictures from the mission shared to date had been captured with different cameras, such because the Nikon D5, Nikon Z 9, and GoPro HERO4 Black.

Shot on Nikon D5
Shot on Nikon D5Artemis II was NASA’s first crewed mission to the Moon since 1972. The crew reached the far aspect of the Moon on Monday, breaking the all-time document for the farthest distance traveled from Earth by people. Nevertheless, the Orion doesn’t have touchdown capabilities, so it was a flyby mission solely. The spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday.