Going viral from space: NASA's tech-savvy Artemis II crew
For the first time in decades, astronauts are heading back toward the moon. And for the first time ever, they are doing it with their iPhones.
NASA's Artemis II crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen — are not only documenting one of the most historic missions in modern spaceflight, but also turning it into social media content.
Over the weekend, Wiseman and Koch shared a photo of Earth taken from inside the Orion spacecraft, reportedly using the selfie camera on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. The images, which show the two astronauts gazing back at the planet through Orion's window, feel both futuristic and strangely intimate — a moon mission captured through the same front-facing camera millions of people use every day.
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NASA has said Artemis II astronauts were allowed to bring smartphones aboard the mission, with four iPhone 17 Pro Max devices traveling alongside the agency's more traditional camera equipment. The phones have been used to capture photos and videos from inside Orion as the crew travels deeper into space, and cannot connect to the internet or Bluetooth, the New York Times reports.
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But one of the mission's most viral moments so far has been an Instagram Reel.
On NASA's Instagram account, the Artemis II crew recently introduced themselves in a Reel styled like a cheesy '90s sitcom, complete with the theme song from Full House. The video leans into quick cuts, exaggerated frames, and astronauts who seem fully aware that a moon mission can also be memeable.
The Reel has already racked up more than 13 million views, underscoring how much NASA's relationship with the internet has evolved. Space missions were once experienced through grainy television broadcasts and carefully controlled press conferences. Artemis II is unfolding on social media, with astronauts posting zero-gravity updates, behind-the-scenes cabin moments, and cinematic images of Earth that look almost too beautiful to be real.
That shift feels intentional. NASA has spent years building a more personality-driven social media presence, understanding that younger audiences are more likely to connect with astronauts as people rather than distant symbols of American achievement. Artemis II is still a deeply serious scientific mission — the first crewed flight to lunar space since Apollo 17 in 1972 — but the social content makes it feel accessible in a way earlier space programs never could.
There is something fitting about that. Artemis II is, in many ways, about ushering in a new era of space travel. The spacecraft may be state-of-the-art, but so is the instinct to document everything, post it, and turn even the most surreal experience imaginable into a Reel.
NASA's recent Artemis II images, including several photos of Earth taken from deep space, have already gone viral across social media. Their lunar flyby on April 6 will be livestreamed on Netflix. If Apollo belonged to television, Artemis II belongs to the feed.
Topics Instagram Social Media NASA
Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet.
She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.
