Alexa to fly aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft in deep space: All you need to know

Alexa will join the Artemis I moon mission as part of Callisto, a technology demonstration payload embedded into NASA's Orion spacecraft and built in collaboration with engineers from Lockheed Martin, Amazon, and Cisco.

Amazon's voice-based virtual assistant Alexa will be going to space as part of NASA's upcoming Artemis I mission, the first in a series of increasingly challenging missions to return humans to the Moon.

Alexa will join the Artemis I moon mission as part of Callisto, a technology demonstration payload embedded into NASA's Orion spacecraft and built in collaboration with engineers from Lockheed Martin, Amazon, and Cisco.

The Callisto payload will be located on Orion's center console and includes:

• a tablet that will test Webex by Cisco video conferencing software to transmit video and audio from the Mission Control Center at Johnson.
• custom-built hardware and software by Lockheed Martin and Amazon that will test Alexa to respond to the transmitted audio.

According to NASA, Callisto will use its Deep Space Network and a local database aboard the spacecraft to communicate with Alexa and respond. Using the network, Alexa can also retrieve information from Earth for astronauts in space to help them stay connected to home during long missions.

Orion is already the most advanced spacecraft ever developed to carry astronauts to the Moon, and voice activation technology could take it to the next level by enabling the interactive computer systems of science fiction spaceships to become a reality for the next generation of explorers.

Howard Hu, deputy Orion program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

In addition to sending Alexa to the Moon, Amazon is introducing new ways to make space exploration more accessible to its customers. The virtual assistant will provide in-depth information on Artemis I, including telemetry data from the Orion spacecraft; videos and imagery from the mission, including a launch livestream; video of virtual crew interactions from Johnson Space Center; and reminders and notifications about key milestones in the mission, Amazon said.

Secondly, Amazon has introduced a new initiative called "Alexa for Astronauts" that will offer live virtual tours from Johnson Space Center and provide students with a first-hand look at the virtual crew experience and other facilities around mission control.