"We're excited to deliver a wide range of up-to-the-minute NASA content to iPhone and iPod touch users," Ames Director of New Ventures Gary Martin said in a statement.  "The NASA App provides an easy and interesting way for the public to experience space exploration."

App users can monitor the International Space Station, while also looking in on spacecraft that are orbiting the Earth on current missions.  The dynamic information is collected from numerous sources, and NASA countdown clocks and other exclusive information is available through the app.

Specifically, users can look at a map with borders and labels; satellite image with country borders and labels; and visible satellite images.  The new app was developed by researchers at NASA Ames Research Center, as part of the New Media Team, located in Moffett Field, Calif.

The U.S. space agency has worked more diligently the past few years to better interact with the public.  Although NASA has faced funding issues and other problems it must overcome, it has done a good job informing the public about current missions.