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With the launch of STS-128 right around the corner,
we thought it'd be cool to highlight one of our favorite space geek
iPhone applications: Mission Clock.
Mission Clock is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch in the Apple App Store today.
The app displays a countdown to mission milestones,
as well as a large T minus and simply smaller L minus clock.
So you can see the T minus clock with all of its holds and the actual
launch time via the L minus clock. In addition,
mission updates are pushed to the device, which gives you an on-screen
prompt letting you know things like when a mission is scrubbed,
even when the app isn't running. But Mission Clock isn't just a giant space nerd
timepiece. Mission-related news and updates are also pushed to the application.
So you can not only see what and when a mission is happening,
but what the mission is about, the milestones that have already happened
and when they'll happen. So this one app covers the what, why, and when
of space-related launches and missions. Pretty cool stuff!
One really neat feature is the ability to prevent your iPhone or iPod Touch from going
to sleep. This allows you to run the application, place it in a docking cradle
on your desk, look at it at any time, and see what's happening with the current missions.
When you see an EVA event coming up, just pop on over to
spacevidcast.com/live/ so you can watch the event right from your computer.
Never miss another space-related event again!
Oh, and it shows off not only your hardcore space nerdery, but also
your iPhone from your desk, a great way to get people talking,
and that's the first step to getting a new human spaceflight nerd convert.
Since Mission Clock uses the iPhone's current time, rather than a GPS
or more accurate clock, it may be up to a minute off.
Of course, unless you're right there at the launch, it'll be really hard to tell.
The application's author is looking into trying to find a new way
around this limitation of the iPhone to make the app even more accurate.
And if he's able to do that, it should be a free update in the future.
You can buy the app right now by going to the URL at the bottom of your screen.
It has a one time cost of $4.99 US, which is a bit expensive for an iPhone app,
but with such a specialized purpose and large awesome factor,
it's our opinion that it's worth every penny.
This is an app that every space nerd will use over and over again.
http://www.spacevidcast.com