diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 215b6e447a..5ea557e270 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@ outlier_detection
 - Fixed failures due to a missing ``wcs.array_shape`` attribute when the
   ``outlier_detection`` step was run standalone using e.g. ``strun`` [#8645]
 
+set_telescope_pointing
+----------------------
+
+- replace usage of ``copy_arrays=True`` with ``memmap=False`` [#8660]
+
 - Refactored separate modes into submodules instead of inheriting from a base class.
   Moved non-JWST-specific code to stcal. [#8613]
 
diff --git a/jwst/lib/set_telescope_pointing.py b/jwst/lib/set_telescope_pointing.py
index 06dfd587a3..111b415ce3 100644
--- a/jwst/lib/set_telescope_pointing.py
+++ b/jwst/lib/set_telescope_pointing.py
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ def from_asdf(cls, asdf_file):
         if isinstance(asdf_file, asdf.AsdfFile):
             transforms = asdf_file.tree['transforms']
         else:
-            with asdf.open(asdf_file, copy_arrays=True, lazy_load=False) as af:
+            with asdf.open(asdf_file, memmap=False, lazy_load=False) as af:
                 transforms = af.tree['transforms']
 
         return cls(**transforms)