As of the latest public NASA records, the main still camera aboard the International Space Station is the Nikon Z9. The same camera body is also the foundation of NASA's next lunar handheld camera, but the ISS and Moon configurations are not identical.
The phrase “camera used in space” can cover at least four jobs: photographing Earth through a window, documenting experiments inside a station, recording a spacewalk, and doing field science on the Moon. One body can cross several of those jobs, while its firmware, covering, controls, and lenses change around the mission.
The current ISS camera: Nikon Z9
NASA's station report for March 20, 2024 records the transition from Nikon D5 cameras to new Nikon Z9 hardware. A follow-up report says the new cameras and accessories were deployed around the ISS.
Nikon's delivery announcement provides the inventory detail:
- 13 Nikon Z9 camera bodies
- more than 15 NIKKOR Z lenses, including super-telephoto and micro lenses
- 15 Nikon FTZ II mount adapters
The adapter allows F-mount lenses from the station's older Nikon system to remain useful while NASA moves to the newer Z mount.
Is it the same Z9 sold on Earth?
For the ISS bodies, mostly yes.
Nikon says the cameras sent to the station are physically unmodified. The hardware begins as the same flagship mirrorless body available to terrestrial photographers. NASA and Nikon did develop custom firmware.
The documented firmware changes include expanded noise reduction behavior for the radiation environment, file-naming and default-setting changes, control adjustments for use with protective coverings, and transfer changes intended to simplify sending images to Earth while reducing power use.
That is a useful distinction. “Unmodified body” does not mean “pulled from a shop shelf and launched with default settings.” Integration work moved into firmware and mission accessories.
What happened to the Nikon D5 and D6?
The Z9 replaced the D5 and D6 inventory as the primary station system, but the older cameras did not all disappear immediately.
NASA's March 2024 report says some Nikon D5 bodies would remain for legacy payload and EVA use. A payload may have been validated around an older camera, and exterior work uses established protective systems. Space programs retire equipment by task, not by influencer-style upgrade cycle.
This is why a current spacewalk photo can show an older-looking body without disproving the Z9 transition.
Proof in the photographs
NASA's Gateway to Astronaut Photography stores exposure metadata with Earth-observation images. One image recorded on March 22, 2024, two days after the transition work began, identifies a Nikon Z9 and a 50mm focal length.
More recent NASA material on astronaut Don Pettit's photography documents Z9 use for creative orbital images, including a multi-frame composite made with an 8mm fisheye lens. The camera is not just inventory. It is producing the public record of life and science in orbit.
The Moon camera: HULC is a modified Z9 system
NASA and Nikon are also developing the Handheld Universal Lunar Camera, or HULC, for Artemis surface work.
The HULC starts with a Nikon Z9 and NIKKOR lenses, then adds lunar-specific engineering:
- a NASA thermal blanket for dust and extreme temperatures
- a custom grip
- modified buttons that can be operated in thick gloves
- electrical changes intended to reduce radiation-related problems
- low-light imaging for the unusual illumination near the lunar south polar region
NASA describes it as the first mirrorless handheld camera intended for use on the Moon. The agency tested standard Z9 hardware before defining the changes.
The HULC should not be called an off-the-shelf Z9. The ISS camera's body is physically standard with custom firmware; the lunar system includes physical and electrical adaptation.
What about video?
The Z9 can record video, and the lunar HULC is meant to consolidate still and motion capability more effectively than Apollo-era handheld systems. Artemis suits also have their own video cameras for operational views and transmission to mission control.
That means the handheld camera and suit camera serve overlapping but different records. The HULC can capture deliberate scientific and documentary frames. Suit video can preserve continuous context and support teams on Earth.
Why NASA uses commercial camera platforms
Starting from a proven commercial body gives NASA access to years of camera engineering, a lens ecosystem, high-resolution sensors, autofocus, video, storage media, and trained support. The program can then spend effort on the parts that Earth photographers do not need: radiation, vacuum exposure, lunar dust, suit ergonomics, thermal extremes, and mission data handling.
It also makes the answer pleasantly concrete. The current ISS camera is not a secret aerospace model. It is a Nikon Z9, carefully integrated for space.
The mission-by-mission answer
- Inside the ISS and Earth observation: Nikon Z9 is the current primary NASA still camera.
- Legacy ISS payloads and some EVA work: Nikon D5 bodies remained after the 2024 transition.
- Artemis lunar surface: the Z9-based HULC adds physical, electrical, thermal, and control modifications.
- Continuous suit and vehicle views: dedicated mission cameras operate separately from the handheld still system.
The model name is only the beginning. In space photography, the surrounding system is what turns a very capable Earth camera into mission hardware.