It’s a familiar scene in sci-fi. The hero astronaut, who has been away on a mission for months, contacts his family back home. And with (almost) clear video communication, he is finally able to speak to his loved ones from space. Sometimes this happens just before the ship is taken over by an alien life form. However, the most unrealistic part of this story is how easy it is to communicate using video when you’re out of the Earth’s atmosphere… until now. Post-pandemic, video conferencing has become second nature, and NASA has enlisted Cisco to integrate its Webex technology for deep space video communication.

“Cisco’s mission is to create an inclusive future and Webex plays a large part in that. We all know that humans are very social animals and as the world has changed, so has the way we work,” says Jono Luk, Cisco’s vice president of product management for Webex. “But the same human need to maintain connection with your loved ones applies – especially when there are only four of you, in a capsule, 250 000 miles away.”