Russian robot 'Fedor' leaves international space station

Moscow: A lifesize Russian robot known as 'Fedor' successfully departed the International Space Station on Friday; two weeks after an aborted docking attempt delayed its arrival.

A live translation from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed a Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft leaving the ISS. Roscosmos said the ship would land in Kazakhstan overnight.

Fedor -- short for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research -- was Russia's first humanoid robot to be sent into space, though similar technology has been sent by Japan and NASA.

Russian media reported that astronauts on the station had tested Fedor's ability to mirror the movements of humans while they are wearing exoskeleton suits.

Such robots will eventually carry out dangerous operations such as space walks, according to the Russian space agency.

The robot was due to arrive on August 24 but docking had to be delayed for three days after the Soyuz spacecraft failed to lock on to its target on a first attempt.

It was a fresh hitch for Russia's space programme, which has been hit by a series of recent setbacks including a manned launch failure last year.

Fedor's return came shortly after President Vladimir Putin gave Roscosmos officials a dressing down over delayed work on a cosmodrome in Russia's Far East.