Today, it might be used in more mundane ways, such as checking the weather and sports scores, and helping with minor trivia queries: “Alexa, how many cups in a quart?” But the original inspiration for Amazon’s ubiquitous all-hearing Internet sage was the talking computer on the Starship Enterprise, which helped Captain Kirk navigate the cosmos on “Star Trek.”

Now, Alexa may soon be going to space in reality.

Lockheed Martin, which is building the Orion spacecraft that NASA hopes will fly astronauts to the moon within a couple of years, is partnering with Amazon to put an Alexa on the capsule.

The device would give astronauts real-time information on telemetry, the health of the spacecraft and its speed. And, yes, they might utter something along the lines of: “Alexa, how far to the moon?”

Astronauts would be able to get information about their water supply or battery levels, even change the temperature or color of the lights in the crew module, the companies said.

Internet: <washingtonpost.com/technology>.