NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman released a video of “Earthset” captured during the Artemis II mission which returned on April 11. The 53-second long video shows Earth disappearing behind the pockmarked moon. Sharing the video in an X post, Wiseman said it was captured using an Apple iPhone at 8x zoom. Explaining the video, he wrote: “Only one chance in this lifetime…Like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos, I couldn’t resist a cell phone video of Earthset.” “I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view…this is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye. Enjoy,” he added.
‘Earthset’ video shot on Apple iPhone
As mentioned above, the video was shot on an iPhone 17 Pro Max that the astronauts carried on the mission. NASA approved the use of personal smartphones aboard Artemis II, making it one of the first missions where astronauts have brought their own handsets into space. The astronauts onboard carried four units of iPhone 17 Pro Max.The video highlights how small the Earth appears when seen from space, offering a clear sense of scale. It takes about eight seconds for a small section of the blue-and-white planet to come into view. The visuals show a sharp contrast between the dark space, the bright colors of Earth and the gray surface of the moon.As the video continues, the Earth gradually appears as a bright white sphere, with its blue color fading. Over the next 20 seconds, the planet slowly moves out of view, completing what is described as an “Earthset.”In the video, Wiseman explains how Koch is using the 400mm lens of a Nikon camera to capture the moment. “You can hear the shutter on the Nikon as @Astro_Christina is hammering away on 3-shot brackets and capturing those exceptional Earthset photos through the 400mm lens. @AstroVicGlover was in window 3 watching with @Astro_Jeremy next to him,” he explained.
Artemis II mission images taken on iPhone 17 Pro Max
Earlier this month, NASA released a series of striking images captured on the iPhone 17 Pro Max during the Artemis II mission, marking the first time consumer smartphones have been officially used to document a crewed lunar mission. The photos, taken on April 2, 2026, show astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch aboard the Orion spacecraft, gazing back at Earth through its cabin windows.“NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels toward the Moon,” wrote NASA while sharing the image on Flickr.
