Robot astronaut awaiting Japanese compatriot

A very good experiment indeed. Would have been better if the robot was multilingual with English and Russian conversation capability.

wide-eyed and bootie-wearing

Core competencies covered, then.

DeAgostini also offers the same robot.

The world's first robot astronaut

This isn't a robot its a toy. Even if we call it a robot, its not the first one. The Curiosity rover has done some autonomous navigation, so has all the properties of being a (far more impressive) robot. Having a humanoid shape is irrelevant. As for the conversation, Sputnik put out radio pulses that sound more interesting, so maybe that's the first robot astronaut.

The robot is part of a study aimed at seeing how a non-human companion can provide emotional support for people isolated over long periods.

Right, there's the "science". So how close is it to beating the Turing test? You'd be better off taking your iPhone and talking to Siri.

But does it show holograms of princesses in distress?

What else does it do besides carry on a conversation?