Meet CIMON, the 1st Robot with Artificial Intelligence to Fly in Space

A beautiful space-exploration friendship between human and machine may have just begun. Early this morning (June 29), a small robot endowed with artificial intelligence (AI) launched on a two-day trip to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule. No other AI-equipped machine has ever flown to space before, project team members said. The mission of the bantam astronaut assistant -- known as CIMON, short for "Crew Interactive Mobile Companion" -- is relatively short and modest. But its work off-Earth could help pave the way for some pretty big things, according to NASA officials.