Barbie Dolls That Traveled Into Space Now Docked At The Smithsonian
Visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will be over the moon to find its newest additions to the collection: none other than two adventurous Barbies who have boldly gone where no doll has gone before, space!
Last year, Mattel and NASA teamed up for Mission DreamStar, an outreach program encouraging little girls to consider careers in aerospace and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The toys were placed upon the Antares rocket before going to the International Space Station (ISS).
In true Barbie fashion, the dolls were decked out in stylish silver, pink, and blue shimmery cosmonaut suits inspired by the Sokol pressure garments crew members wore on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. To ensure that the toys were safe to travel into the galaxy, they had to leave behind all their accessories. They even had to ensure their hair was cut short and glued down to prevent unnecessary shedding in the microgravity environment.
They spent their few months in the cosmos touring the ISS’s Veggie Garden, the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer, and the Cupola window where they could take in the sweeping views of Earth. And now that they are back on our home planet, they will find a new home at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
The cosmic dolls will preside alongside three other Barbies, which include the 1950s ‘Miss Astronaut’ dressed in a silver suit inspired by Mercury astronauts, a commemorative Barbie made for the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, and a trendy Barbie dressed in a hot pink suit with a ruffled skirt and blouse, complete with a helmet.
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[via Gizmodo and CollectSPACE, images via various sources]
