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

Product Information

Since 2019, Mattel has honored real-life astronauts with Barbie dolls bearing their likeness. Part of the brand's Inspiring Women series, Barbie dolls have been styled after first American woman in space Sally Ride and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.

The idea of a Barbie doll with two outfits – one for work and one for after work – was not unique to this doll. Mattel’s 1985 Day-to-Night Barbie was based around that exact concept. By day, this doll wore a pink blazer and pencil skirt and carried a pink briefcase. By night, she let her hair down (literally and metaphorically) and donned a sparkly pink evening gown. 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. Barbie® Space Discovery™ dolls and toys inspire kids to let their imaginations blast off into space!

Instruction Sheets

These two space-flown Barbies have been added as a special addition to the toys case that has been on display in the McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center," Margaret Weitekamp, curator of the National Air and Space Museum's social and cultural history of spaceflight collection, said in an interview with collectSPACE. "They join three Barbie dolls in space outfits that have already been on display." The Space Discovery line, now for sale exclusively at Target, includes Barbie dolls identical dolls to those launched to the station, as well as dolls of Barbie's friends dressed in spacey outfits and related playsets. 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® astronaut doll is ready to explore the sky and beyond with a shimmery spacesuit, space boots, gloves and helmet.

As it turns out, the two Barbie dolls that recently went on display at the Smithsonian are not the first to have flown into space, contrary to how they are described in the exhibit. Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC. 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. Released 13 years before NASA accepted its first female astronauts and 18 years before the first American woman would go to space, the Miss Astronaut outfitted doll was ahead of her time. As such, she served the important purpose of showing young girls that they too could dream of spaceflight before there were women astronauts at NASA to be such role models. 1980s Later, the astronauts inscribed and autographed one of the photos for Denison, writing in jest that Barbie was still needed for their next simulator run (Barbie and Denison left NASA within months of the mission ending.)

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They don't have the helmets, they just are wearing the suits," said Weitekamp. "My understanding is that the shoes are adhered to their feet and, in fact, their hair has been gelled down with a little bit of glue to keep it from not just being a 'flyaway,' as in having a bad hair day, but literally flying away in the microgravity environment. 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. In 2021, Mattel released its most recent astronaut doll with the Barbie Space Discovery line. This version of astronaut Barbie wears a white spacesuit with pink and blue detailing, white gloves, and white boots. The best part about this doll is that it's actually been to space! This is the version of Barbie that was chosen for Mattel’s Mission DreamStar expedition to the International Space Station in 2022.