Snap A Real Selfie From Outer Space Thanks To A Former NASA Engineer

A former NASA engineer turned YouTuber has found a round-a-bout way to give people the opportunity to snap a selfie of themselves from space. The satellite will also send an alert to a person when it is above their location on Earth, making it possible to photobomb themselves in their own selfie from space.

Mark Robler, also known for his googly-eyed robot that is unbeatable at Rock, Paper, Scissors, is launching a satellite with the aid of Google and T-Mobile to make space selfies a reality. Onboard the satellite will be a Google Pixel smartphone, a radiation-resistant case, and opposite that will be another camera.


“So once we beam your picture up to the satellite, we’ll display it on the phone, and then the camera will take an HDR picture and then beam the image back to Earth,” explained Robler.

Robler has included a fail-safe in case the phone/camera combination happens to stop working. To the other side will be the exact same devices. However, the team said this created a problem, as it meant the satellite would have to be facing three different ways to pick up solar energy from the Sun. So, Robler and his team decided to install a flywheel inside the satellite that can rotate depending on which action is required.

While Robler is billing the space selfie as being free, there is a caveat. It is only free for those with a T-Mobile account, or a Google Pixel smartphone. If anyone falls into either category, they will be able to go to spaceselfie.com and enter a code.

Otherwise, a subscription to CrunchLabs will be required to take a space selfie. Current CrunchLabs subscriptions start at $25 annually, and can run up to $80.

So, will you be taking advantage of being able to take a selfie from space? Let us know in the comments.