$1 iPhone App Replaces Pricey Shuttle Tool

For 30 years, NASA has spent millions of dollars on millions of pounds of fuel to launch millions of pounds of space shuttle.

Now, just as the last shuttle lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center, technology has caught up.

One of the tools that will be used during Atlantis? final run of the space shuttle fleet NASA will actually save millions of dollars.

A pair of iPhone 4s with an app that costs just $1 will replace a multimillion dollar piece of heavy equipment.

The app is called Space Lab for IOS. It uses the iPhone?s built-in gyroscopes to replace a custom-built job for the shuttle Atlantis, according to its developer’s website.

The app will let astronauts measure altitude and the curvature of the Earth.

The iPhone camera in space will take snapshots of the various coastlines. Programmers said they hope this will help future spacecraft that might get knocked out of position; it may be the beginning of global positioning system in space.

All of the high-tech accomplishment aside, there is another experiment many iPhone users want to see: whether the phones will get a cell signal in space.

Space Lab’s programmers said it’s not officially part of their job, but they may check.