We’ve finally reached the end, the last episode of the Space Oddities Podcast series. 

 On this episode, we’ll take a look at a few more space related marketing ideas, a couple that you may remember from when you were a kid. I’ll also tell you my favorite out-of-this-world space marketing story culled from the pages of my new book, Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space.  

By the way, the book is now available at your favorite online (see a few links below to the most popular stores) and your favorite hometown bookstore. 

Purchase Space Oddities Online:

Barnes and Noble
Books-a-Million   
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing 

Purchase the audio book online at:

Google Play
Audible  

Show Notes:  

The Coca Cola Space Can (Image – Smithsonian)
Pepsi Space Can (Image – Smithsonian)
Print ad for Space Food Sticks (Image)
The sweet Slim-Jim like craze of the late 1960s, Space Food Sticks (Video)
AOK Space Food Stick commercial by the PET company (Video)
A “Far Out” Commercial for Space Dust (Video)
A cool Coca Cola Ad (Video)
Pepsi / Challenger Ad (Video)

We all know that the first American woman in space was Sally Ride who flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983, but in the hearts and imaginations of millions of young girls around the world in 1965, the title belonged to another woman, well, she was only a doll, but Astronaut Barbie made girls believe that one day, they could actually fly into space themselves. 

That same year, the Hasbro toy company introduced their own astronaut – Astronaut GI Joe.  

This episode will take a look at the history of both Barbie and GI Joe in space and how Barbie is now a role model for inspiring girls to literally reach to the stars through STEM programs which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  

It will also discuss how Astronaut GI Joe helped convince Werhner von Braun and NASA to develop the lunar rover that would be used on the Apollo moon missions. 

Show Notes:

Barbie’s Debut TV Commercial 1959 (Video)

A Brief History of Bild Lilli, The Doll Barbie Was Modeled After (Video)

1986 Astronaut Barbie Commercial (Video) 

A Great Barbie Commercial Inspiring Girls That They Can Do Anything, including STEM career (Video) 

The History of GI Joe (American Experience Webpage) 

Original 1964 GI Joe Commercial (Video)

A Collection of GI Joe Commercials Including Astronaut GI Joe at 3:36 into the Video (Video) 

The OTHER Mattel Astronaut: The Classic Major Matt Mason From (Video) 

The First Major Matt Mason Commercial (Video)

This episode begins with a story culled from my new book, “Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories Of Mankind’s Exploration Of Space”. It’s a story about how the Soviet Union actually thought that if they were the first to land humans on the moon, the world wouldn’t be able to see it and the announcement may be deemed a hoax. 

Sound familiar, right? Their answer was to nuke the moon.  

The plan was quickly dismissed, but it is still a fascinating story about the possibility of such a landing being deemed a hoax. And while the Soviets dismissed the plan, the Americans had their own plan to explode nuclear bombs on the lunar surface.

The title of the episode is a quote from former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Show Notes:

You Can Beat The A-Bomb  (Video)

A 1950s film that demonstrates steps you can take to survive an atomic bomb explosion…good luck. 

Public Reaction To Sputnik (Video)

Omaha, Nebraska television station KETV talks with residents about the launch of Sputnik in October 1957. 

Space 1999 Theme – September 4, 1975

Space 1999 Episode 1

The moon is hurled out of Earth orbit after a nuclear explosion in this classic Sci-Fi TV series.