Contrary to popular belief, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were not the first to land on the Moon. It was Luna 2, a robotic space probe the size ofa large beach ball, which arrived there 10 years earlier. First to reach another planet, first to land on Mars and Venus, first to touch an asteroid, first to see the outer planets close up, first to land on the moon ofanother planet; the list ofrobotic space achievements is long and impressive. In fact, robots ventured into space even before robot assemblers took over the car factories and robot vacuum cleaners and robodogs were let loose in our houses.