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Moon Earth NASA

iPhone Video Shows 'Earthset' From Space 44

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman posted an out-of-this-world iPhone video on Sunday, showing Earth disappear behind the Moon at 8x zoom. "I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view," said Wiseman, noting that this video is "uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom" and "quite comparable to the view of the human eye." The New York Times says the video marks the first time an "Earthset" has been captured on video.

"We've seen our fair share of remarkable images and videos from NASA's Artemis II mission around the Moon. Some of those were even captured on iPhone," notes 9to5Mac. "But Reid Wiseman, astronaut and commander for the Artemis II mission, just posted a new video that might take the crown for the most impressive yet."

iPhone Video Shows 'Earthset' From Space

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  • by drnb ( 2434720 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @03:42AM (#66104590)
    So are astronauts going to get free iPhones rather than free Corvettes? :-)
    • Well, in a few years the nominal value of an iphone may well be the same as the one of a Corvette back then.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      So are astronauts going to get free iPhones rather than free Corvettes? :-)

      Sadly, they're just getting a free lifetime supply of those Smuckers Uncrustables.

      But did anyone verify the GPS coordinates of the videos and photos to make sure it wasn't some soundstage in Hollywood? Anyone make sure the GPS says it was taken where they said it was taken? /s

      (Yes, I know GPS doesn't work that way, but now every photos and video is GPS tagged so if it was a soundstage in Hollywood it would work...)

  • The last Moon-missions used Hasselblad cameras with REAL objectives and now this.

    • Yeah, those Hasselblad movie cameras were amazing! /s

      Wait, no, Apollo used the 16mm Maurer "Data Acquisition Camera" with patented PotatoVision(TM)

      I've watched all of the Apollo 11 footage, it's barely better than the Super 8 film my parent shot back in the 70s.
    • by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @08:38AM (#66104794) Journal

      The last Moon-missions used Hasselblad cameras with REAL objectives and now this.

      Please stop complaining. Most of the awesome photography that happened on this mission was performed with Nikon D5s and Nikon glass. The D5 has been in use on the ISS [wikipedia.org] for a long while, the astronaut corps is familiar with it, it's proven its reliability in space environments, and has exceptional low-light capabilities.* Plus, Nikon works with NASA [youtube.com] to provide custom firmware and related services.

      And before you move the goal posts and start whining "but that camera is so old!" - they also brought a more modern Z9 with them. A modified Z9 will be what is used on the lunar surface.

      More info: [1 [youtube.com]], [2 [youtu.be]], [3 [space.com]]

      * The recent Hello World image [nasa.gov] that was in every media channel on Earth was shot at ISO 51200 [petapixel.com], because it's actually capturing the night side of Earth. That is: Weissman took that picture in the dark.

      • Thank you! I have a whole bunch of background images for my desktop that change in random order and I just added this to them.
    • by brunes69 ( 86786 )

      Yes, because more photos and videos of space are bad.

    • There was nothing "real" about the last moon missions. The last moon missions recorded film on a colour cast fujifilm intended for creative qualities which accentuated contrast and blue saturation . By comparison the digital sensor on the iphone is far more real.

      Also what's a "real objective"? I assume you mean lenses. Last I checked the iPhone had a lens on it too and apparently its so real you can even touch it.

      • "There was nothing "real" about the last moon missions."

        Sure, it was, last time Stanley Kubrick was the director.:-)

        • You think the moon landing was fake? Dude, the MOON is fake. It's an optical dilution created by the Stonecutters.

      • "Last I checked the iPhone had a lens on it too and apparently its so real you can even touch it."

        Touch? Hasselblad lenses broke your toes if you dropped them.:-)
        And you COULD drop them.

  • by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @05:55AM (#66104658)
    Spacex's Starship gives us LIVE video of fucking reentry plasma, flaps as they disintegrate with the heat, splashdown.

    After a couple of weeks, NASA's Artemis finds an Iphone video one of the crew took.
    • So? Have SpaceX provided any video beyond LEO?
      • Yes, they have:

        "The car, mounted on the rocket's second stage, was launched on an escape trajectory and entered an elliptical heliocentric orbit crossing the orbit of Mars.[6] The orbit reaches a maximum distance from the Sun at aphelion of 1.66 astronomical units (au).[4] Video of the Roadster during the launch was transmitted back to the mission control center and live-streamed."

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster
        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by greytree ( 7124971 )
          That says "during launch" but the last live video frames transmitted actually showed the car at roughly 500,000 miles away, far exceeding the distance of the Moon (about 238,000 miles).
          And far, far beyond LEO.
    • by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @10:05AM (#66104974) Journal

      After a couple of weeks, NASA's Artemis finds an Iphone video one of the crew took.

      Have you been living under a rock? NASA live-streamed practically the entire mission on YouTube and other channels [artemis2.live]. Pictures taken by the astronauts were posted to NASA's website [nasa.gov] on a daily basis, and splashed across every newspaper and media channel on the planet!

      Bear in mind that during the Apollo mission, we had to wait for the astronauts to return and have film developed before anyone could see images.

  • by Gramie2 ( 411713 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @09:37AM (#66104910)
    Looks like that Apple sponsorship deal really paid off!
    • by SumDog ( 466607 )
      brought to you by Nutella, Nikon, Apple, Microsoft Outlook (just kidding, that was part of Apple's deal).
  • Aww, look at the Earth being all coy!

    Reid Wiseman:
    "I could barely see the Moon...
    ...but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view...
    ...this...is quite comparable to the view of the human eye"
    O.o

    The way the Moon suddenly snaps into focus in the video reminded me of the wizardry/fakery employed by Samsung's controversial Scene Optimiser [samsung.com], as nicely exposed here [reddit.com]

    Huawei (and Xiaomi) definitely don't do similar though, no siree! That pretty photo that I took with my Huawei t'other week is totes
  • Once again, there is nothing, except perhaps some advertising for iPhone.

    I feel sorry for you, Artemis crew...

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