The best iPhone ad Apple never made — watch NASA’s mind-blowing video of the Earth setting behind the moon, shot on an iPhone 17 Pro Max

A still from a video of an 'Earthset' shot by NASA on the Artemis II mission next to a photo of an astronaut looking out of a window.

• NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman has filmed an 'Earthset' on an iPhone 17 Pro Max
• The footage shows the Earth 'setting' behind the moon
• It's the first time we've seen video of this and it taken using the 8x zoom lens

It’s not every day that you see footage of the Earth setting behind the moon. But today NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman released the first video taken of that event in human history — and it was shot on an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Posting on X, Wiseman shared a 53-second video shot through Integrity’s docking hatch window during the Artemis II mission, showing the Earth slowly disappear behind the moon.

It’s a stunning clip, and all the more impressive for having been shot on an iPhone — in fact, it would make a great advert for Apple’s phones.

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. You can hear the shutter on the Nikon as @Astro_Christina is hammering away on 3-shot brackets and capturing those… pic.twitter.com/8aWnaFJ69cApril 19, 2026

A once in a lifetime scene

Wiseman claims the footage is uncropped and uncut, with “8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye.” We’re slightly confused by that claim as 8x zoom on this phone should be around a 200mm equivalent focal length, whereas the human eye is usually considered to be between 40-50mm.

Still, this is no time to get bogged down in technicalities — Wiseman described the scene as something that’s “only one chance in this lifetime” and “like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos.” The astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy, meanwhile, said it was "quite possibly the most incredible video ever captured by a phone. Bravo."

While this is among the more impressive scenes to come from the Artemis II mission, we’ve seen plenty of other shots and videos too — including some shot on iPhone.

Sadly, with the Artemis II mission now concluded there might not be too many more iPhone photos and videos to see from it, but it makes us all the more excited for what’s to come on future NASA launches.