I admit, I’m a sucker for space toys, especially awesome retro space toys, like the Ideal Astro Base shown above (buy it on Etsy! It looks like a blast!! No, I’m not being punny on purpose.)

Astro Base was a toy made by the Ideal company in the early 1960′s. The toy ran on 4 D Cell batteries. Other than a power switch, it had several features that includes the following modes of operation:

Astro Scope: Switch to Astro Scope and a scene of spaceships, rockets, and jets rotates through a view finder just below a radar dome on the top of the toy. A button on the console let the user ‘fire’ at objects seen on the screen, which would pause the rotating images and emit a machine-gun style sound.

Space Lock: A crane emerges out of the hatch on one side of the toy. This crane has a hoist operation that can be used to raise or lower a plastic astronaut figure, or other objects that the user may have that can be connected to the hook at the end of a chain. The main purpose of this crane is to insert or remove the astronaut from a scout car.

Scout Car: The scout car can be plugged into a port on the console and controlled by a two position switch marked Turn and Drive that can actually be used to steer the vehicle with a bit of practice. The scout car also has missiles that can be launched.

Ideal made two variations of the Astro Base. The original all-red version featured a lighted Astro Scope that illuminated the pictures spinning around the Astro Scope. Ideal Toys discontinued this version and offered the common red and white version.
— CollectToys.net

I also liked this Moon Patrol XT-978 Tank, because I’m amused at the mental image of tooling around the lunar surface… in a tank. Any tank, really, but especially one with bodacious tail-fins!

A Space Wheel from the "Battle of the Planets" (1978)

Japanese retro-futurism? Hai douzo (yes please!) Two lovely toy illustrations from Battle of the Planets.

Images courtesy of Dark Roasted Blend.

Another beautiful ship from "Battle of the Planets", made by Entex Toys

Image © Ms Premise-Conclusion

Discovered this terrific amigurumi Space Shuttle via @RadioKate — buy the pattern on Etsy!

Image © Ms Premise-Conclusion

I found this at the Early Space Exploration exhibit at Kennedy Space Center yesterday — a tin-type battery-powered toy from 1966. Fun stuff!

As if 1,204 pieces of pure LEGO space goodness weren’t enough reason to immediately run out and buy the LEGO Shuttle Adventure set, AVAILABLE NOW… they’re also giving away an exclusive, space-LEGO-y magnet to go with:

Also, there’s free shipping. [more excited about the magnet] Space LEGOs, you are the same age as me. Yes, this greatly increases my desire for the magnet. I admit it.

So I saw this rereleased 1965 Astronaut Barbie over at Out of the Cradle last month. She’s pretty chic, very Sixties. Nice hair.

But I have to show you MY Astronaut Barbie because, well, I think she’s just SO MUCH BETTER:

Astronaut Barbie -- We girls can do anything! (1985)

Oh yeah… NINETEEN EIGHTY-FIVE, BABY!

I love my Astronaut Barbie — she has awesome puffy sleeves (“straight out of Dynasty!”, says my best friend), a hot pink mini-skirt for dates after a long day of exploring space, an enormous fishbowl helmet, and amazing knee-high hot pink boots! (And an amusing “personal computer” with windup scrolling screen.)

A friend directed me to the Moon Marble Company, where they create a terrific “Universe” set:

The Universe Mib Box holds 48 of the 5/8 inch diameter marbles. This box contains 12 styles of marbles from the Vacor Factory in Guadalahara, MX including; Stardust, Comet, Meteor, Asteroid, Milkyway, Galaxy, Jupiter, Neptune, Earth, Mars, Venus, and Sun.

Definitely worth a look-see!

I found this via Out of the Cradle (also reviewed at collectSPACE) and totally, completely want the set of toys. Darnit. This makes me miss Chick-fil-A, A LOT. Plus, the toys are adorable!

In this age of plastic and… more plastic? I just love wooden things. This puzzle is child-safe, non-toxic, hand-crafted and lovely to look at.

I loved the Space series of LEGOs. Pictured above is the set I lusted after and never got — the Monorail Transport System. [le sigh] I did, however, own the Cosmic Laser Launcher, pictured below! I still own all of my LEGO Space sets; they helped me dream big when I was still little, and I look forward to passing them on! Link = the most awesomest LEGO Space resource OF ALL TIME. (Yes, I’m nerding out here.)