posted 04-30-2007 12:00 PM               

I can think of a few examples:

• Young Astronauts Cabbage Patch doll
  
• Space Shuttle Project video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System
  
• 1977 Space Shuttle Enterprise lunch box

posted 05-01-2007 04:08 AM               

There were several model kits of the Shuttle released in various configurations and scales during the late 1970s/early 1980s by various manufacturers, too. The box art on these vintage releases could be particularly interesting, with sometimes fanciful visions of a future yet to be realized, all exciting to those of us of single-digit age at the time.

Mat Irvine's book "Creating Space" details a lot of these kits and shows the box art of many of them.

There are others, but those are the ones closest to the top of my mind right now!

posted 05-01-2007 09:22 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ea757grrl:
The box art on these vintage releases could be particularly interesting, with sometimes fanciful visions of a future yet to be realized, all exciting to those of us of single-digit age at the time.

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posted 08-15-2007 01:54 AM               

Revell USA packaging of Enterprise with the 747 and Enterprise with the boosters that were issued in the late 1970s (and the orbiter by itself). Then in 1/72 we have the early Columbia boxing with similar style artwork (it was supposed to be issued as Enterprise, but changed when Columbia was slated to become the firt flight orbiter).

Airfix did an early shuttle boxing for their 1/144 kit, circa 1978 which featured an artwork of shuttle blasting free of the ET and SRBs.

As for another model tie in to the public perception at the time would be the Moonraker kits issued for the James Bond film. They were just reissues of the respective Airfix and Revell kits, but it was interesting to see them offered in different markings at a time when it was believed that fleets of shuttles would be flying to stations in orbit very many times a year.

In 1981, of course we had Columbia STS-1 and Revell reboxed all their kits with STS-1 Columbia packaging along with MPC, who offered the Airfix kit on the US market with pictures from STS-1's launch and landing on it. After that things started to get a little more generic in the packaging.

Probably the most oddball model kit I can think of would be the Guillows 1/77 scale stick and tissue balsa model of the space shuttle featuring a picture of Columbia from STS-1 touching down at Edwards. As I recall, at the time Guillows said it was one of their most popular selling kits until the STS-51L Challenger accident in 1986.

posted 08-15-2007 02:13 AM               

I recall a Space Shuttle pencil sharpener marketed circa 1983 which featured a sort of antique brown metallic shuttle with landing gear. It was about the same size as the Ertl diecast.

Tomy in the early 1980s at the height of their windup toy craze did a windup shuttle that would roll around in circles and an astronaut would pop out of the payload bay periodically. It was something cute (I used to have one). A couple cheaper knockoff toys were issued later that looked like this, but the first Tomy one was the cutest looking IMHO.

Tonka issued Spay-C, a GoBot that looked like a shuttle and it was colored better then some of the Transformers shuttle toys issued at the time. Monogram did a plastic model kit version of it as well, complete with a sheet of sticker markings for Columbia.

Then we have the ever popular "Space Shuttle Operators Handbook" which to my knowledge was the first mainstream book that went pretty indepth into shuttle systems, yet was easy enough for young readers to enjoy.

The Atari 2600 cartridge was done by Activision and it was called "Space Shuttle, a Journey Into Space". It was very cutting edge for the time and released circa 1984.

It came out much later, but Hallmark did that nice shuttle christmas ornament circa 1994 which included an astronaut dangling from a satellite in the payload bay on it. As far as mainstream collectables go, this one was a really nice one IMHO.

I can also recall a preschool plastic toy of a space shuttle issued circa 1982. I think this was done by the same company that did a Saturn V toy during the Apollo program that featured an Apollo capsule that could be spring launched by a set of triggers on the LM adaptor. These were typically found at retail stores like Kmart at the time.

The shuttle IIRC was molded in several colors and the body could be opened up to show a flight deck and empty payload bay. Later the same company did a set of SRBs and ET for it although the orbiter was the same. I think this came out circa 1980 and the ET and SRB version was issued in 1982 or so. They never issued an all white version to my knowledge as the plastic color combos I can recall were red, silver and white (maybe blue as well).

posted 08-16-2007 01:37 AM               

Estes did a 1/163rd scale shuttle with ET and SRBs where the orbiter was designed to come off at Apogee and glide down. I think the very first versions had those concept markings from the mid 1970s with "United States of America" titles on the payload bays. When I built one in the early 1980s, they had redone the sheet with (then) current shuttle orbiter fleet names and markings found on Columbia.

Estes also did an HO scale shuttle orbiter rocket kit around 1980 or so and it I believe was vacuuformed plastic over a styrofoam core. It was only out for a couple years and discontinued prior to Columbia's flight.

The first Estes shuttle I got came out in late 1981 and it was an all new traditional construction rocket kit (balsa fins, blow molded nose and OMS pods, some cardboard construction for the sidewalls) of Columbia in slightly small scale compared to the 1980 issued shuttle mentioned above. The box art of the first issue had pictures of Young and Crippen on it. As a side story, this was my very first model rocket. I built some things wrong on it so it only went about 40 feet on an A8-3 motor. But with a big enough engine (B or C motor) it flew like a dream. I did pull it out of retirement several times when I ended up losing some of my newer rockets in accidents. I think I got about 38 flights out of the thing before it suffered a fatal prang in 1996 when the engine ejected instead of the parachute.

Centuri corp also did their own similar sized orbiter only Space Shuttle Columbia model rocket. It featured thick fiberboard (sort of multi laminated cardboard) fins instead of balsa like the Estes one did. The Estes one looked better IMHO, although the Centuri kit is a bit rarer since it was only out a couple years and got discontinued when Centuri finally merged with Estes around 1984 or so.

There was also a sport scale "Mini Shuttle" which was a more traditional rocket styled to look like a shuttle. That came out circa 1985. The last shuttle rocket Estes did was the Shuttle Glider starter set issued in 1996-97. The orbiter was molded in a dense styrofoam and it didn't fly high at all (due to the nose weight of the stabilizer pod), but it glided very nicely on the flights I got out of the one I purchased.

Considering the request for information was in April and it is now August, I have to wonder if Valerie is still looking for information or not (or potential items). If she is though, I might have a few things I could donate as well if they are considered unique enough for such a collection. One item I remember I should still have is a mint condition Matchbox Space Shuttle tracking station RV complete with a rotating radar dish on top. Of course I don't know exactly where I stored the thing though.

posted 08-16-2007 02:39 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by randy:
There was also a video game (I don't remember the title) where the object of the game was to assemble the space station Freedom.

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I remember having one called "Project: Space Station," which ran in MS-DOS. Is this the one you're thinking of? I loved it, as it let you pretty much manage the whole show: crew selection, payload, etc. You even got to land the shuttle (which I usually did in rather horrible fashion).

The other thing I remember is that the bios of the astronauts were pretty detailed, and some of them had interesting names. I particularly remember a physicist named "P. Pfister," which made me think of Price Pfister faucets. My best friend and I used to riff on the Price Pfister tagline and call the astronaut in the game "the phabulous physicist with the pfunny name."

Ah, memories!

posted 08-17-2007 05:23 AM               

I don't recall a space station cartridge game, but the MS-DOS one I do remember (and still have a copy of) is Space MAX. Its focus was construction of a commercial space station, using both shuttle and the shuttle C HLLV design. The trick was to try and finish construction within 90 days or before the money runs out.

posted 08-23-2007 04:21 PM               

A few years ago at a national level model contest, somebody built an egg plane airport and entered it into the humor category. On the runway he put an egg 747 with an egg shuttle riding piggyback. They looked perfect together!

posted 03-30-2009 10:02 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ilbasso:
Probably the closest any of us will ever get to riding on the Shuttle!

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posted 03-31-2009 08:35 AM               

Stewardess - "Attention, please. Everyone should now get on the plane."