August 26, 2024 — As SpaceX’s subsequent business astronaut undertaking rolls out for release, Mattel is counting right down to the discharge of its newest Matchbox toy in line with the distance corporate’s automobiles.Not like Mattel’s previous units, which have been modeled after spacecraft and rockets, this upcoming factor is extra of a herbal are compatible for the enduring line of die-cast automobiles. Matchbox’s 1:64 scale model of SpaceX’s Team Delivery Automobile is ready to reach in U.S. retail outlets on Oct. 1 for $1.25 every.The whole-size group delivery automobiles will probably be again in use this night (Aug. 26), as they’re used to force the Polaris Crack of dawn group from the ability the place they placed on their spacesuits to Release Pad 39A and the Falcon 9 rocket that may ship them into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle in Florida. The black Tesla Style X electrical automobiles first went into carrier in 2023, changing a previous fleet of white automobiles that had been in use since 2020.”We’re overjoyed to paintings with SpaceX,” mentioned Nick Karamanos, Mattel’s senior vice chairman for leisure partnerships, when the 2 firms signed a multi-year licensing deal in 2022. “We show pride in our skill to create merchandise and studies that honor cultural moments.”Just like the automobiles that Polaris Crack of dawn commander Jared Isaacman, pilot Scott Poteet and undertaking consultants Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon will journey, the Matchbox miniature could also be decorated with markings figuring out its use. Each the motive force and passenger Falcon Wing doorways show SpaceX’s brand and the phrases “Team Delivery Automobile” in white. At the rear bumper is the corporate’s title and “01,” the latter distinguishing the auto within the convoy to the pad.The toy additionally reproduces a element that SpaceX presented when it all started flying astronauts: a customized registration number plate. Previous tags have learn “ISSBND” (“Global Area Station Sure”), “L8RERTH” (“Later Earth”) and “YAYSP8C” (“Yay! Area”). The Polaris Crack of dawn plates, along with that includes affected person art work, learn “4STJUDE” (For St. Jude) in connection with the charity the undertaking is supporting.The Matchbox Team Delivery Automobile has a rear-mounted registration number plate that reads “CRW DR6N” (Team Dragon). The similar plate used to be utilized by SpaceX’s Team-6 in 2023, the corporate’s 6th undertaking to ferry astronauts to and from the Global Area Station for NASA, and the primary to make use of the black Style X automobiles.The toy delivery comes packaged on a card that identifies the Tesla Style X because the seventy fifth set in Matchbox’s 2024 mainline of 100 automobiles. The cardboard contains the SpaceX brand and a demonstration of the car using on a steel gantry-like bridge in entrance of a town skyline lit up at night time.Earlier Matchbox units launched below the SpaceX license contains scale replicas of the Team Dragon spacecraft, Falcon Heavy rocket and Starship release car. Matchbox’s sister emblem Scorching Wheels, which could also be owned by means of Mattel, has additionally celebrated SpaceX’s achievements with 2018 and 2019 releases of a Tesla Roadster, each modeled after the cherry crimson sports activities automotive that used to be introduced by means of the primary Falcon Heavy (Scorching Wheels’ later model incorporated the spacesuited “Starman” that used to be strapped into the motive force’s seat).
