Tag: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Robot astronaut Kirobo utters first words in space (video)

Last month, as expected, robot astronaut Kirobo uttered the first words spoken by a robot in outer space. Yesterday, via the PR agency that helped sponsor his journey, we found out what he said (translated from Japanese): “On August 21, 2013, a robot took one small step toward a brighter future for all.” See the

Robot space traveler blasts off for International Space Station

Becoming potentially the cutest space traveler ever (with apologies to Laika, the Soviet space dog), the pint-sized Kirobo robot astronaut was launched from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center early yesterday morning. Kirobo — a combination of “kibo” (hope) and “robot” — began his journey at 4:48 a.m. Japan time aboard the Kounotori