NASA's Robonaut-2 reunited with its ride into space at Smithsonian

Closeup photo of a white humanoid robot with a gold helmet in a museum exhibit hall.

NASA's retired space shuttle Discovery has been reunited with one of its last crew members.

The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum debuted Robonaut-2 (R2), NASA's first dexterous humanoid robot flown into space, on Thursday (Oct. 24). The two-armed, two-legged robotic testbed launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Discovery's final mission in 2011.

R2 is now on exhibit at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia.

"R2 is looking straight at Discovery's starboard side," said Jennifer Levasseur, space history curator at the National Air and Space Museum, in an interview with collectSPACE.com. "It is has taken the place formerly occupied by Gemini 7."

NASA's Robonaut-2 is on loan to the Smithsonian for display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Image credit: Smithsonian)