MSGID: 2:292/854 11182e4d
The Russian Soyuz capsule with the humanoid robot Fedor on board has succeeded
in attaching itself to the international space station ISS. That was announced
on Nasa TV on Tuesday.
 
"The contact has been confirmed, the link has been confirmed," a commentator
announced on the Nasa television channel.
 
The intention was that the link would already take place on Saturday, but that
failed then. The capsule was as close as 96 meters from the mooring place, but
then began to drift away.
 
The capsule of the Soyuz-MS-14 is unmanned, but it does contain the human-like
robot Fiodor, which is 1.80 meters tall and weighs nearly 160 kilograms. Fedor
- Skybot F-850 for the friends - stands for "Final Experimental Demonstration
Object Research" in English.
 
Fedor also has his own account on Instagram and Twitter, on which he gives an
insight into the daily worries of a humanoid robot.
 
The robot has to perform different tasks for two weeks under the supervision
of the Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov. He will test the skills of Fedor
under micro gravity. One of the important skills of the robot is that it can
imitate human movements, so that it can help astronauts or take over tasks
from them. His return is planned for 7 September.
 
Russia has been using Soyuz FG launchers since 2002 to bring people to the
ISS. But in 2020, the switch will be made to the launcher Soyuz 2.1a, which
has already launched a Russian Progress cargo ship. One launch with a Progress
failed, hence the test with a non-manned Soyuz capsule.

--- D'Bridge 3.99
 * Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)
SEEN-BY: 1/123 15/2 153/757 221/1 226/17 229/354 426 728 1014 240/5832
SEEN-BY: 249/317 400 261/38 280/464 292/854 8125 317/3 322/757 335/364
SEEN-BY: 342/200 396/45 633/280 801/188 3828/7
PATH: 292/854 229/426