The Space Shuttle Atlantis just took off from Cape Canaveral, launching into outer space in what will be the last launch of NASA’s historic shuttle fleet. Aboard the shuttle are not only the crew of astronauts and the hopes and dreams of hundreds of millions of Americans, but a very special payload: two custom, zero-G iPhone 4s.
Two iPhone 4s certified for space travel are on board Space Shuttle Atlantis, the shuttle fleet’s historic final mission, STS-135.
The iPhone 4s will be running the SpaceLab for iOS app from Odyssey Space Research, which will be used for space research. They will remain on the ISS for several months for the crew to conduct a series of experiments.
Among other things, the app will help ISS astronauts find their relative position is space by matching pictures of the Earth taken with the iPhone’s camera to a database of coastline maps in the app.
A $0.99 “terrestrial” version of SpaceLab for iOS app is available today from the App Store. According to the company: “Flight data from the experiments are expected to be collected, analyzed, and then shared via this app on the App Store.”
Let’s hope NASA comes up with a viable replacement for their space shuttle fleet. I’d hate it if these were the last iPhones in space. What do you think the next iPhone to be launched into space will be like?
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
8 responses to “Two Zero-G iPhone 4s Are Now In Outer Space Aboard Final NASA Space Shuttle Flight”
I’m not too sure why this is news, but multiple media outlets are reporting this like crazy!
-Chris
http://friendsofmac.net
You shouldn’t say “two iPhone 4s,” you should say “two iPhone 4 units” or “two iPhone 4 devices.” People will think this might be the rumored iPhone 4S.
How many bars do they get up there? I’d hate to see their data charges.
It’s sad to see the last Shuttle mission. I’m wondering what NASA has up its sleeve for a shuttle-like orbiter, or even if it has any plans in this regard. In the meantime I’m guessing that Russia will be taking over supplying the ISS. I’d like to see NASA invigorated and some kind of plans to revisit the moon, possibly to set up a base camp there, then push on to Mars.
Regarding the iPhones, I bet roaming charges are a bitch! It would be interesting to see if NASA has a satellite link that the iPhones can piggyback their signals on. Anyone know if they’re doing this?