NASA has updated its iPhone application with new connections to social media sites and access to more than 125,000 photos from its image collection.

Version 1.2 of the NASA App is now available with a Facebook Connect feature that lets users share images, videos, tweets and mission information on Facebook, and an Integrated Twitter feature for posting, retweeting, replying to and direct messaging through the microblog service.

The new version also includes the NASAImages.org collection of images from the space agency that can be browsed and searched. Currently, NASA has more than 125,000 images in the collection, which it continues to update.

NASA first launched the application last October as a way for people to stay abreast of its activities. The app collects, customizes and delivers dynamically updated information and multimedia from various online NASA sources.

The application is available for free either through direct download to an iPhone or iTouch from the App Store, or through iTunes.

The update also includes some user enhancements. The application's orbital tracking feature now has a "center" button for easier navigation, and its search feature has been improved, according to NASA. Additionally, the app has a new offline caching system.

Beyond the new features, NASA has updated tools that were available in version 1.1 of the application.

The update includes information about optimal viewing times for the International Space Station and Space Shuttle. They can find the information by searching for either their home location or searching for a location where the spacecrafts will be visible.

The app, which can be downloaded from the iTunes store, also is outfitted with more content and details about particular NASA missions as well as status updates on upcoming launches.

NASA, NASA App, iPhone, iTouch, iTunes, NASAImages.org, Facebook, Twitter