During the Artemis II spacecraft’s final approach for its historic lunar flyby, Commander Reid Wiseman showed off a fantastic photo of the lunar surface he took on his iPhone 17 Pro Max. Here are the details.
Commander Reid Wiseman takes stunning photo of the lunar surface
Over the past few days, the Artemis II crew has been sharing photos taken on their iPhones, marking the first time NASA has allowed astronauts to ”fly with the latest smartphones,” per NASA administrator Jared Isaacman’s description.
In addition to the four iPhone 17 Pro Max units onboard, the crew has also been using a GoPro HERO 4 Black, a Nikon D5, and a Nikon Z 9 to capture images, all of which are available on NASA Johnson’s Flickr account.
Earlier tonight, as the Artemis II spacecraft approached the moon for the flyby that will slingshot it back to Earth, the astronauts took turns snapping photos of what they could see through the Orion capsule’s window.
On the livestream, just as NASA’s Public Affairs Officer and Live Mission Commentator Leah Mustachio was explaining that the crew had turned off all the lights in the cabin to take better pictures, astronaut Reid Wiseman approached the livestream camera and showed a stunning picture of the lunar surface on his iPhone.
Astronaut Reid Wiseman captured this stunning image of the Moon using nothing more than an iPhone 17 Pro.
the same camera that fits in your pocket. pic.twitter.com/mZevaDhhIT
— Earth (@earthcurated) April 6, 2026
He would later confirm in the livestream that he’d taken the photo on his iPhone with an 8x zoom, while Mission Control would go on to confirm that the photo showed the Chebyshev crater.
At the time of publication of this post, the crew was just completing “some post-lunar flyby activities,” including sending some of the photos back to Earth, according to Mustachio.
Whether Wiseman’s photo from the livestream will be in the mix remains to be seen.
If it is and once NASA updates its Flickr account with images from the flyby, we’ll update this post with the full resolution version as well. Meanwhile, you can follow along the mission’s livestream in the video below:
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