Could these astronauts be the first to take their smartphones into space?
- Published
Nasa has said that astronauts will now be able to take smartphones with them into space.
"We are giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world," said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in a social media post.
These changes mean that members of the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will be the first who are allowed to take the latest iPhones and Android smartphones to space.
It also means that the astronauts on Nasa's Artemis 2 mission around the moon will also be able to take smartphones with them, when they become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the Moon next month.
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Say cheese! Astronauts would use digital cameras in space to take pictures
In the past astronauts would take pictures from the ISS using a digital camera and upload them so that people on Earth could see them.
This won't be the first time a picture has been taken by a smartphone in space though!
Back in 2013 a trio of mini smartphone satellites called 'PhoneSats' were blasted into Earth orbit by Nasa to test if they would still work in space.
In 2011 two iPhone 4s were sent to space for testing, and astronauts are also used to regularly using tablets on the ISS.
Will Crew-12 be the first to take a smartphone selfie in space?
The Crew 12 mission includes Nasa astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency's Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The crew will spend nine-months on board the ISS helping with science experiments.
The mission had to be moved forward, after the previous crew had to leave earlier due to a medical issue.
Nasa are aiming to launch on 13 February, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
