NASA’s awe-inducing iPhone moon video is a free ad for Apple, but there’s a catch
NASA’s awe-inducing iPhone moon video is a free ad for Apple, but there’s a catch
Publish Date: 2026-04-23 18:10:00
Source Domain: www.fastcompany.com
NASA this week released a stunning video of “Earthset,” the humbling moment when the Artemis II crew (now back at home) caught a view of Earth setting behind the lunar surface. From the window of the crew’s capsule, the recording captured the cusp of our bright and blue planet slowly disappearing behind the moon. The camera lens is of high-enough quality that the imaging picked up the wisps of weather systems traveling over our oceans and, in the foreground, the much darker lunar surface, peppered with crevices and craters.
“Dude,” exhales an overcome astronaut on the recording’s audio. “No way.”
This was all filmed on an iPhone 17 Pro Max and was shot by Reid Wiseman, the American astronaut who commanded the Artemis II mission. The video has since gone viral, generating many millions of views and providing NASA with another shareable moon moment amid a crowded and often depressing news cycle. The video is no doubt a humbling reminder of not only how far humanity has gone in space, but how far consumer technology has come, too. Today, a smartphone used by more than a billion people is also powerful enough for astronauts.
NASA only recently changed its rules and allowed astronauts to bring their personal smartphones to space. On the Orion capsule, the four astronauts also brought along other devices, including Nikon D5 and Z9 cameras. Still, it’s hard not to feel like the iPhone recording has sort of become an implicit advertisement for Apple. Indeed, several consumer tech outlets have picked up on the use of iPhones. One even called the “Earthset” video, which hearkens back to a similar “Earthrise” video captured during the Apollo 8 mission, the “best iPhone ad Apple never made.”
“You captured the wonders of space and our planet beautifully, taking iPhone photography to new heights, and we’re grateful you shared it with the world,” wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook in a social media post earlier this…
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