I have always been a bit of a space junky.  Although I may not have been old enough to witness the early days of the space program, I have read thousands of pages and watched hundreds of hours of movies and documentaries about those early astronauts.  Nothing inspires the imagination of humankind like the stories of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo…particularly the Apollo 11 lunar landing.  Sadly, much of the potential of those early years has been seemingly squandered as the United States has spent the last three decades flying nothing but low Earth orbit Space Shuttle missions.  While I am not saying the Space Shuttle has no value, I do think it feels like a real backwards slide to know that no one has set foot on another celestial body in decades.  Fortunately, recent years have seen a revitalization of the promise of the Apollo years (at least on paper), with exploration of Mars, and the new Ares rockets.  You can now track all of it directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Using the iPhone app, you can track any of NASA’s eight ongoing missions.  Whether it is the aging Space Shuttle fleet, the International Space Station, exploration of the Moon or Mars, or even the still experimental Constellation missions using the Ares test rockets, this app can bring it all straight to you.

For each of the eight missions, you will receive a full description of the mission, as well as a countdown to the next launch.  You can also view photos, videos, or even the news feeds for each particular mission.  Pretty much the only thing you cannot do is listen in on the NASA radio broadcasts while the mission is ongoing. 

Of course, if you do not want to focus in on a specific mission, you can also head back out to the main page where you will find an assortment of videos, images, and even news feeds from across NASA.

The only thing missing from this app was a historical perspective of the space program.  Earlier this year, NASA brought a fantastic recreation of the Apollo 11 mission — which resulted in the first men to land on the moon — to the Internet.  It was incredible to relive that experience, and I would love to have seen something similar (even if less ambitious) on the iPhone and iPod Touch.  The Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and even the previous Space Shuttle missions are important landmarks in our love affair with space, and it would be nice to have seen them remembered in this app.  Of course, none of this considers some of the landmark unmanned missions, such as the Hubble Telescope, Voyager, and others.

I will say, however, that I was impressed to find just about as many images of celestial objects as NASA crew and vehicles.  I loved finding some of these images of our solar system and beyond.  They are simply breathtaking to view.  Though I do wish they had been easier to sort and search.

Tap the “i” at the bottom of any of the nearly 20,000 included photos for a wealth of information about each one.

I found this free app from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to be a fantastic way to keep up with everything that is going on in the space program today.  Especially with respect to the Constellation mission and the potential it holds for the future of space exploration, including manned missions to the Moon and Mars.  I did think, however, that the app feel short by not including any information about historic missions,particularly those which occurred at the dawn of space exploration.  That being said, though, the real mystery of space lies in the images we bring back.  And there are more than enough of those to spark any imagination…young and old, alike.  If this app shows us anything, it is that we have not seen anything yet when it comes to space exploration.

You can check out this free app in the iTunes App Store.

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