In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. For its part, the Smithsonian is interested and plans to revise its current display, which labels the "Space Discovery" Barbie dolls as the "first two Barbie dolls to fly to space.

Unsurprisingly, this doll’s fashion choices were heavily influenced by the culture and trends of the 1980s. My understanding is that the shoes are adhered to their feet and, in fact, their hair has been gelled down with a little bit of glue to keep it from not just being a 'flyaway,' as in having a bad hair day, but literally flying away in the microgravity environment.After welcoming 1994’s Astronaut Barbie to Air and Space, the Museum went on a long Barbie-collecting hiatus that ended only recently with the addition of two dolls from 2021. The Space Discovery line, now for sale exclusively at Target, includes Barbie dolls identical dolls to those launched to the station, as well as dolls of Barbie's friends dressed in spacey outfits and related playsets.

Two “Space Discovery” Barbies that flew to the International Space Station in 2022, on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center. During this time, Mattel also released another iteration of Space Camp Barbie (2008) as well as two scientist dolls: Space Scientist Barbie (2017) and Astrophysicist Barbie (2019). We rely on the generous support of donors, sponsors, members, and other benefactors to share the history and impact of aviation and spaceflight, educate the public, and inspire future generations. Part of the brand's Inspiring Women series, Barbie dolls have been styled after first American woman in space Sally Ride and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina. And both Barbie dolls sport hair that has been styled, not just to prevent the flyaways of a bad hair day, but also to literally keep any hair from shedding into the spaceflight environment.As such, she served the important purpose of showing young girls that they too could dream of spaceflight before there were women astronauts at NASA to be such role models. But another Barbie made the trip 32 years earlier aboard a still-classified space shuttle mission and today it sits in the home of its original owner. Read all Barbie, a space Princess, sees her world rapidly change when the stars in the sky begin to fade away. It's fascinating to learn that there was this earlier doll that carried such personal significance for the crew and I think it only highlights the ways that flown memorabilia illustrates how much for the astronauts and the ground crews those spacecraft were their workplaces and they personalized them the same way that you or I would personalize our office desk or a home space," Weitekamp said. Open the set to reveal a workstation and turn the star pattern thumbwheel to switch between different space scenes in the space station window!