A Nikon Z9 Made it Aboard the Artemis II Moon Mission at the Last Minute

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A Nikon camera is superimposed over a photo of a rocket launching into the sky, with bright flames and smoke billowing from the rocket at liftoff.

Although the plan had been for NASA Artemis II astronauts to bring just Nikon D5 DSLR cameras with them to space, last-minute requests by the crew helped get a Nikon Z9 aboard Artemis II before it launched into space yesterday.

The Nikon D5 remains the camera of choice for the Artemis II mission and will be assigned primary photographic duties. It is a proven, highly-tested camera that the Artemis II team knows will excel in the high-radiation environment of space. However, as Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman explained ahead of yesterday’s launch, he successfully fought to have a single Nikon Z9 added to Artemis II’s manifest.

“That’s the camera that they’ll be using, the crew will be using on Artemis III plus, so we were fighting really hard to get that on the vehicle to test out in a high-radiation environment in deep space,” Wiseman said.

The astronaut says the team did some last-minute training with the Z9, describing it as a “great piece of gear.”

Alongside the single Nikon Z9, Wiseman and fellow Artemis II crew members, pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, will be using a pair of Nikon D5 DSLRs, as initially planned.

Four astronauts wear bright orange NASA space suits with blue accents. Three are standing and one sits on a stool. They pose against a dark studio background, two holding helmets by their sides.

“[The Nikon D5 is] great in low light and great for optical viewing of the lunar surface with our long lens, so lots of good photo/TV work,” Wiseman explained.

If the Artemis II crew attempts to recreate the iconic Earthrise photo Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders captured in 1968 using a modified Hasselblad 500EL camera, it will be very interesting to see which Nikon camera gets the nod. The crew will also have their smartphones with them, which is a first, and GoPro action cameras that are being used as part of a National Geographic documentary project.

Three people stand indoors, two holding large cameras and taking photos. The person on the left wears a NASA shirt and glasses, while the other two wear matching t-shirts and baseball caps. Industrial equipment is visible in the background.

As PetaPixel previously reported, Nikon and NASA have been hard at work developing the next-generation Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC), which will be used as part of the Artemis III and other future Artemis missions. The HULC features a modified Nikon Z9 and a custom thermal space blanket designed to protect the flagship mirrorless camera against the rigors of space, including extreme temperature fluctuations on the Moon and radiation in space.

A Nikon camera without a lens is displayed next to a white and red camera bag, which has a camera lens built into the front, both set on a white surface with a dark, blurred background.

A person holds a Nikon camera mounted on a stabilizing device, which is resting on a white cushion. The person is wearing a long-sleeve black top. The setup is showcased on a table in a dimly lit environment.

Being able to put a Nikon Z9 through its paces in space aboard the Artemis II mission as it navigates space and orbits the Moon should prove extremely helpful for future Artemis missions to the Moon and provide NASA with essential data as it finalizes the HULC. As of now, the Artemis III mission, which will put humans back on the Moon for the first time since 1972, is scheduled for launch next year.

Image credits: Nikon, NASA. Header image created using a photo of the Artemis II launch on April 1, 2026, captured by NASA’s Bill Ingalls.

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