Most people would freak out if they had to go even a few hours without their smart phone, but for astronauts, it has always been expected.

Of course, early astronauts did not have to worry about this because cell phones wouldn’t be invented for decades. Even the communication back to Earth was very limited, as is explained by NASA:

“Before the Space Network, NASA astronauts and spacecraft could only communicate with the support team on Earth when they were in view of an antenna on the ground. That allowed only for communications less than 15 minutes every hour and a half. Imagine if our cell phones worked that way. It would be difficult to stay in contact with family and friends or respond to important messages. The Space Network provides near continuous communications coverage every single day.”

The Space Network has allowed missions to space to connect to satellites that would relay the message back down to Earth, allowing for near continuous communication. This dramatically improved safety and reduced stress for mission control on the ground.

Even after smart phones became commonplace, they were not approved for use on space missions. NASA has to certify everything that goes up into space to ensure it will operate properly, won’t interfere with other equipment, and that it won’t be a danger. Up until recently, that certification process took a long time.

NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, announced that smartphones will be allowed on the Artemis II.

“NASA astronauts will soon fly with the latest smartphones, beginning with Crew-12 and Artemis II. We are giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world.”

It has not yet been announced what is meant by the ‘latest’ smartphones. Are all the newest phones going to work, or has NASA partnered with just one company. Perhaps the Samsung GALAXY model of phones would be appropriate?

Allowing smartphones on these missions comes as a result of the long-standing rules about how things got approved to go to space was challenged. Isaacman explained:

“Just as important, we challenged long-standing processes and qualified modern hardware for spaceflight on an expedited timeline. That operational urgency will serve NASA well as we pursue the highest-value science and research in orbit and on the lunar surface. This is a small step in the right direction.”

Allowing for a much more rapid approval of bringing things into space will not just make life more convenient for astronauts, but could also help to push for more experiments with less delay. This is especially true thanks to the dramatically reduced cost of bringing things to space thanks to the advancements of SpaceX.

In the past, every ounce of weight had to be carefully considered because of how much launches cost. Now that so much of the rocket can be reused, that cost has dropped sharply, allowing for more flexibility when it comes to weight restrictions.

So, we can certainly expect to see some amazing pictures and videos  being published in real time from future space missions. Plus, the astronauts will be able to keep in closer contact with their loved ones, which I suppose is important too.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?