Boeing is teaming up with Samsung to explore new ways to integrate mobile apps into the CST-100 spacecraft, which is being developed as part of the commercial crew program of NASA.

The new NASA program aims to transport astronauts between the Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). Boeing is also eyeing the development of new types of commercial flights using the CST-100 to take paying clients to different space regions in the future, according to Space.com.

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Boeing aims to use mobile tech as an avenue for astronauts to share their space experiences and maximize their time in orbit. Representatives of the firm have already revealed six apps that could be integrated into the CST-100.

The apps could be transferred to the Samsung's Android operating system.  Some of them are now being used on the space station and some were also used in previous NASA space shuttle missions, according to former astronaut Chris Ferguson.

Ferguson is now the Boeing Commercial Crew Program's director of crew and mission operations.

World Map, which is one of the six identified apps, allows astronauts to set alarms to let them know when the ISS flies over a certain place on Earth, Ferguson explained.

Space tourists might also use the tablet technology to capture space images and share them with those on Earth with the help of an onboard tool similar to Wi-Fi. This tool beams back the data to the Earth's surface.

Other apps could provide astronauts with important information about their spacecrafts and their locations. Another app could become an alternative to the bulky checklists that astronauts presently use in the station.

Ferguson also said tablets could render spacecraft windows useless in the future, although it might not be that easy.

As of now, Boeing is competing with SpaceX, Sierra Nevada Corp, and other spaceflight firms to shuttle the astronauts to and from the ISS under NASA's new commercial crew program. One of the program's goals is to have at least one operational US spacecraft by 2017.

NASA is planning to choose fewer companies in August to carry on with the project.

Ferguson added that the CST-100 is warming up for its first unmanned space flight in January 2017. Its first manned mission is scheduled on July 2017.