Apple's hardware has been used in space since 1981, starting with shuttle-era experiments and flights. The Macintosh Portable became the first Apple system to move into orbit as part of a Shuttle-era experiment. The system was used to study how crews interacted with software in microgravity, where input methods behaved differently than on Earth. However, as Shuttle operations evolved, consumer systems fell out of mission-critical roles. Apple hardware remained in orbit, but shifted away from integrated use into experimental platforms and crew-side tools. The iPhone 4 was used as a scientific tool on the final Shuttle mission in 2011. The mission also demonstrated how commercial devices could take on limited, but limited roles without changing how spacecraft operates.