As the primary American girl to fly into space, Sally Ride turned one of many largest figures in space exploration historical past. Now, Ride is being honored with a Little People determine in her likeness.
The 2.5-inch-tall (6.9 cm) Sally Ride toy is a part of Fisher-Price’s new Little People Collector “Inspiring Women” set, which additionally contains figures modeled after poet Maya Angelou, aviator Amelia Earhart and civil rights activist Rosa Parks. The $20 set will go on sale at Target shops starting on Sunday (Oct. 3).
“The Little People Collector Inspiring Women figure set from Fisher-Price celebrates 4 American girls who modified the world by their power, braveness, intelligence and dedication,” the academic toy firm wrote on its web site. “This must-have figure set features each pioneering woman brought down to Little People toy size and comes in a specially designed, gift-ready box that will look great on any collector’s shelf.”
Sally Ride: First American Woman in Space (Pictures)
Ride, who like the opposite three girls within the set is being honored posthumously, died in 2012 on the age of 61. Her Little People determine is styled after how she regarded in 1983, when she lifted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger on the primary of her two spaceflights as a NASA astronaut.
The toy Ride is depicted in her gentle blue flight swimsuit with NASA and STS-7 mission patches. She holds the helmet she wore for launch in a single hand.
“Astronaut Sally Ride was the first American woman in space, as well as a professor of physics at the University of California at San Diego and founder of a nonprofit organization promoting STEM literacy for children,” Fisher-Price wrote, referencing Sally Ride Science, which continues to advertise science, know-how, engineering and arithmetic actions for younger girls.
Although Ride is the one determine within the Inspiring Women set straight honored for making historical past within the subject of space exploration, the three different girls depicted have connections to NASA. Parks was memorialized with the naming of an asteroid found by the company’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in 2010. A poem written by Angelou and artifacts that were used by Earhart have been flown on NASA and U.S. industrial spaceflights.
The Little People Collector Inspiring Women determine set comes out simply in time for the annual celebration of World Space Week, which this yr begins on Monday (Oct. 4), the sixty fourth anniversary of the launch fo the world’s first satellite Sputnik. The theme of the 2021 World Space Week is “Women in Space.”
The Little People determine just isn’t the primary time Sally Ride has been depicted in toy type. In 2019, one other Mattel-owned line equally honored Ride as an “Inspiring Women” with a Barbie doll in her likeness. Ride was additionally the inspiration for a minifigure as a part of the LEGO Ideas “Women of NASA” set launched in 2017.
Fisher-Price Little Figures have been first launched in 1950 and since then greater than two billion have been offered. Although there have been Little People toys dressed as astronauts earlier than, the Sally Ride determine is the primary to honor a particular space explorer. The Collector line expands the toys to incorporate celebrities, musicians and characters from tv and movie.
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