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On June 29, 2018, a Space X Falcon 9 rocket was taking off with a Dragon capsule on board to refuel the International Space Station (ISS). The launch went well and the Dragon capsule docked at the ISS a few days later, on July 2nd. In addition to refueling, the capsule also contained a new experience called CIMON for Crew Interactive MObile Companion. It is a small robot the size of a basketball specially programmed to follow floating in weightlessness German astronaut Alexander Gerst, in the Space Station. The machine is equipped with more than a dozen propellers so that it can fly parts and others without hitting anything in the space laboratory. The six astronauts from the Orbital outpost can talk to CIMON but he has learned to work best with Mr. Gerst. The intelligent robot, made of plastic and metal, was manufactured using 3D printing. He has to work with Watson AI, IBM's artificial intelligence technology designed to help crews. This launch also marks the abandonment of the "BLOCK 4" version of the Falcon 9 rocket, which will be replaced by version 5 from this summer. This improved launcher is a little more powerful but it is especially designed to improve the "reusability" of the rocket parts. This new version could be reused 48 hours after a launch and should be able to chain dozens of consecutive launches.
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