Amazon has announced that it is sending Alexa to space as part of a technology demonstration on an upcoming NASA mission.

Artemis I is the first of several missions by the space agency intended to land the first woman and the first person of colour on the moon.

Alexa will be joining as part of Callisto, a technology demonstration payload embedded into NASA’s Orion spacecraft and built-in collaboration with engineers from Amazon, Cisco, and Lockheed Martin.

“The Star Trek computer was part of our original inspiration for Alexa, so it’s exciting and humbling to see our vision for ambient intelligence come to life on board Orion,” said Aaron Rubenson, vice president of Alexa Everywhere at Amazon. “We’re proud to be working with Lockheed Martin to push the limits of voice technology and AI, and we hope Alexa’s role in the mission helps inspire future scientists, astronauts, and engineers who will define this next era of space exploration.”

Amazon said that the mission is the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems, which includes a new Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

It added that while this first mission is uncrewed, it is an important step that will NASA and others in the industry to test technology that could be used in subsequent crewed missions to the Moon and other deep space destinations.

The technology giant said that it envisions a future where astronauts can turn to an onboard AI for information, assistance, and companionship.

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