NASA Will Send Robonaut’s Doc Ock Legs to the ISS Today With SpaceX, and You Can Watch With Us

[Update] Whoops! There was a problem with the Falcon 9 rocket, so Robonaut is going to have to wait a little longer to meet his other half. The next attempt is scheduled for Friday.

NASA’s Doctor Octonaut Robonaut 2 has been patiently awaiting the arrival of his robotic Doc Ock legs as he sits completely immobile on a support post. Today, his lower half is launching to the ISS aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at 4:58PM ET, and then he’ll be able to move freely about the space station and free up human astronauts for more complex tasks.

You can watch live coverage from NASA starting shortly before the launch.

Robonaut has been on board the ISS since February 2011, but it hasn’t been as much help to astronauts as it could be, because it can’t get around the zero gravity environment on its own. Once it gets its new legs, it’ll be able to maneuver around the inside and outside of the space station, handle simple tasks instead of using valuable astronaut time on them, and become our supreme overlord.

He’s pretty excited about it, which we learned from his Twitter. Yes, NASA’s robot astronaut tweets. (Or has a human do it for him.)

Here’s Robonaut dancing around and displaying his superiority to his feeble human servants:

(NASA via Twitter)

Meanwhile in related links

• The ISS recently got new crew members after they spent unplanned days in orbit
• The UK’s robot soldier, Porton Man, is less able-bodied but looks more unsettling
• There’s also a spider-bot, which would probably work great in space

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Dan Van Winkle

Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.

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