After flying 10 astronaut crews into Earth orbit, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft is landing — on toy store shelves.
Matchbox, the classic die-cast toy brand, has released a miniature model of the commercial space capsule, which on Monday (May 22) brought the private Axiom-2 (AX-2) crew to the International Space Station. The collectible, which was not timed to the mission, is the first product to be released under a multi-year licensing agreement between SpaceX and Mattel, as was announced in July 2022.
"Well, this happened..." read a recent Matchbox World post to Instagram, which shared photos of the new model inside and out of its box. "The Matchbox SpaceX Dragon Capsule has shipped."
The 2.5-inch-tall (6.4 centimeters, or roughly 1:128 scale) Dragon lists for $16.99 each. It includes both the capsule, in which astronauts ride to and from space, and the "trunk," which supports unpressurized payloads and provides power to the entire craft. Matchbox reproduced the look of the solar cells that cover one side of the trunk with a metallic silver and black finish.
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