In Photos: Robonaut 2, NASA's Robot Butler for Astronauts

Who's Going to Drive You Home Tonight?

NASA/JSC

Former astronaut Bruce McCandless operates Robonaut B, mounted on its Segway scooter robotic mobile platform.

An American Robot

NASA

NASA's Robonaut 2, or R2, humanoid robot poses like a champion with the American flag while sitting atop a hill and riding its new wheeled base, Centaur 2, at the Johnson Space Center Planetary Analog Test Site in Houston.

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Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.