MOSCOW: It wassecond time lucky yesterday as an unmanned spacecraft carrying Russia's firsthumanoid robot into orbit docked at the International Space Station following afailed attempt over the weekend. "Sorry for the delay. Got stuck intraffic. Am ready to carry on with work," the robot's Twitter account saidin a jokey first tweet from space. Copying human movements and designed to helpwith high-risk tasks, the lifesize robot named Fedor is due to stay on the ISSuntil September 7.
The robot sat inthe commander's seat of an unmanned Soyuz spaceship that blasted off Thursdayfrom a Russian spaceport in southern Kazakhstan. "Let's go. Let'sgo," the robot was heard saying during the launch, repeating the phraseused by the first man in space Yuri Gagarin. Soyuz capsules are normally mannedon such trips, but this time no humans were travelling in order to test a newemergency rescue system. The ship was carrying scientific and medical equipmentand components for the space station's life-support system, as well as food,medicines and personal hygiene products for crew members, Russia's Roscosmosspace agency said.
After thesuccessful docking at the second attempt, a NASA TV commentator praised thevessel's "flawless approach to the ISS". "Second time was acharm... the crew is up to seven," he said, referring to the sixastronauts aboard the space station. An aborted attempt to dock on Saturday hadincreased uncertainty over the future of Russia's space programme, which hassuffered a number of recent setbacks. Last October a Soyuz rocket carrying anAmerican and a Russian had to make an emergency landing shortly after lift-off-- the first failure in the history of manned Russian flights.
On Saturday, NASAhad said the Soyuz craft was "unable to lock onto its target at thestation". Russian flight controllers had told the ISS crew it appeared theproblem that prevented automated docking was in the station and not the Soyuzspacecraft, NASA added. Fedor -- short for Final Experimental DemonstrationObject Research -- can be operated manually by ISS astronauts wearing roboticexoskeleton suits and it mirrors their movements.
Robots like Fedorwill eventually carry out dangerous operations such as space walks, accordingto the Russian space agency. Its head Dmitry Rogozin told Interfax news agencythat the next stage for Fedor could be further tests on Russia's new mannedtransport ship under development, the Federatsiya, or a spacewalk to work onthe outside of the ISS.
"That's whathe's being created for. We don't really need him inside the station,"Rogozin said. Fedor is not the first robot to go into space. In 2011, NASA sentup Robonaut 2, a humanoid developed with General Motors that had a similar aimof working in high-risk environments.
It was flown backto Earth in 2018 after experiencing technical problems. In 2013, Japan sent upa small robot called Kirobo along with the ISS's first Japanese spacecommander. Developed with Toyota, it was able to hold conversations -- albeitonly in Japanese. The International Space Station has been orbiting Earth atabout 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,000 miles per hour) since 1998. - AFP
