Extreme X-Planes Backpack Playset

Encourage young minds to contemplate the limitless possibilities of the universe with the model aircraft of this Extreme X-Planes Backpack Playset. Modeled after actual NASA designs, the four 4.5" diecast metal planes of this Space Explorer Set include a Space Shuttle, X-33, X-112 and SR-71. Plastic playmat with educational information on the back and plastic accessories enhance the exciting aviation experience offered by this Extreme X-Planes Backpack Playset. Educational Rocket Poster makes inspiring kid’s room wall décor. Blue-trimmed clear carrying case doubles as a child’s backpack. Ages 3 and up.  Backpack, 9.25"w. x 2.5"d. x 10.5"h.

Museum Provenance

As United States President John F. Kennedy assumed office in 1961, the race into space with the Soviet Union moved beyond the competition to place satellites and animals in orbit. Plans for human exploration were well underway. The Soviets led the way on April 12, 1961, when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth once in his Vostok spacecraft and returned safely. American astronaut Alan Shepard’s suborbital flight aboard the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7 took place twenty-three days later. The Soviet Union remained ahead in the space race until at least the mid-1960s when the Gemini program demonstrated superb U.S. capabilities, and in July 1969 the U.S. Apollo 11 mission saw astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin become the first humans to set foot on the Moon, eight years after President Kennedy issued his inaugural challenge. The exhibition Fifty Years of Human Space Flight is on view at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Every Smithsonian purchase will arrive with a museum provenance card explaining how it is adapted from or inspired by an object or objects in our collection.