Johannesburg: Pint-sized android `Kirobo` paid a cheeky tribute to Neil Armstrong by broadcasting a message from inside the International Space Station (ISS).

Kirobo said in a video that shows it wandering weightlessly on-board the ISS that on August 21 2013, a robot took one small step toward a brighter future for all, News24.com reported. The humanoid creation greeted people on earth with a good morning, asserting that it was the world`s first talking robot astronaut.

Nice to meet you, it said in Japanese. Kirobo is just 34cm tall and weighs about 1kg; it left Earth on August 4 on a cargo-carrying rocket, which was delivering supplies to the ISS. ANI