The first robot astronaut drove a space ship to the ISS station

Skybot F850 "drove" the Soyuz itself to the International Space Station (ISS) on August 27. This is the first robot astronaut in the world to do this.

On August 22, the Soyuz spacecraft was launched from Kazakhstan carrying the only astronaut, humanoid robot called Skybot F850. This is a test flight without crew, tasked with pairing and putting robots on the ISS.

The ISS has just welcomed the world's first robotic astronaut.(Photo: NASA).

According to the original plan, Soyuz will arrive at the international space station on August 24. However, the process was delayed due to technical problems. Russian aerospace corporation Roscosmos found that the automatic pairing position on the ISS did not work well, potentially damaging Soyuz.

According to The Verge, after the astronauts intervened in some final stages, the spacecraft carrying humanoid robots has successfully paired and brought the first robot astronaut in the world ISS.

This special mission is part of Roscosmos' new spacecraft testing plan. In the future, astronauts will move from Earth to the ISS with the new Soyuz-2.1a rocket, replacing the Soyuz-FG used from 2002 to the present.

Roscosmos decided to use robots at the ship command position to check the operation of the newly upgraded parts and the ability to connect the ISS with the new software system.

Skybot F850 is self-propelled or man-controlled.(Photo: Roscosmos).

Skybot F850 does not work at ISS. It stayed here for 2 weeks for astronauts to test and evaluate the ability to perform some missions in space. The robot was then returned to Soyuz and returned to Earth in September.

According to Space, Skybot F850 (also known as FEDOR) has been developed since 2014 by a Russian company. It has 2 operating modes: operating via controller or self-propelled. Skybot F850 1.8m high, can fit in the driver's seat on spacecraft.

Before Skybot F850, in 2011, the US Space Agency (NASA) also sent to ISS a robot called Robonaut 2. However, it only has the upper body and the humanoid head. In 2014, two new legs were posted.

This robot performs a number of different tasks during the time of saving the ISS. By May 2018, it was powered off and taken back to Earth for repair. Expected, Robonaut 2 will soon return to ISS and continue to participate in activities here. There will be an interesting encounter between two humanoid robots on the space station more than 300 km above the ground.

1. Russia first launched a humanoid robot on the ISS
2. Russian robots learned how to shoot two arms before going to the Moon