Barbie Space Discovery Space Station Playset with Space Explorer Doll, Puppy, Workstation, Satellite Space Scenes & 20 Space Station Items:Chair, Test Tubes, Microscope, Puppy Bed, 3 - 7Years Old

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The first two Barbie dolls to fly in space, part of Mattel's "Space Discovery" line, are seen on display the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, after spending several months aboard the International Space Station in 2022. (Smithsonian) Two “Space Discovery” Barbies that flew to the International Space Station in 2022, on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center. After welcoming 1994’s Astronaut Barbie to Air and Space, the Museum went on a long Barbie-collecting hiatus that ended only recently with the addition of two dolls from 2021. Barbie, on the other hand, never rests. Between 2000 and 2020, seven total space-themed Barbie dolls were released. Most notably, Barbie did what no human has yet achieved and traveled to Mars! In 2013, Mars Explorer Barbie claimed the Red Planet for Barbieland. Clad in a white spacesuit with shimmery pink detailing, this doll perfectly blends the more realistic, practical styles of the 1960s and ‘90s with the hyperfeminine fashions of the 1980s. The pair of dolls sent into space are modeled after the astronauts and cosmonauts who live on the station. Each is dressed in the same one-piece outfit loosely based on the Sokol pressure garments worn by crew members who launch and land on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft. The Barbie dolls now in space are expected to return to Earth this summer, when they will be sent to the Smithsonian to go on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia.

It was on a DOD [Department of Defense] flight, and that's why you might not have seen much on it," said Steve Denison in an interview with collectSPACE.Barbie® Space Discovery™ dolls and toys inspire kids to let their imaginations blast off into space! At first glance, they appear to be like all of the other Barbie "Space Discovery" dolls found on toy store shelves — and that very well may be the point. The playset features Barbie® space explorer doll, her puppy and more than 20 out-of-this-world pieces that inspire kids to explore and experiment. We're always fascinated to learn new things about the richness of spaceflight in the decades that have come before," said Margaret Weitekamp, curator of the National Air and Space Museum's social and cultural history of spaceflight collection, "though it does not change the museum's interests in the first officially flown Barbie dolls to go to the International Space Station. I think that the distinction of those toys being used explicitly for an educational purpose to inspire the next generation in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] still stands.

The National Air and Space Museum on Tuesday (July 18) debuted on display the first-ever Barbie dolls to actually fly into space. The two fashion figures spent several months on board the International Space Station (ISS) in 2022 as part of "Mission DreamStar," a joint outreach project by Mattel and the ISS U.S. National Laboratory. The dolls were then donated by the toy company to the Smithsonian.

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