So yes, on the one hand, a lot of these guys have been strange, or unusual-quirky-bizarre,” O’Brien says. “But on the other hand, should we be surprised since they were drawn to office in the first place? The Barbie doll came in just one design when she was first released in 1959 — a “teenage fashion model” sporting a simple black and white bikini. Before this spacecraft came several flybys of Saturn by Pioneer 11 (1979), Voyager 1 (1980) and Voyager 2 (1981). Some of the discoveries that came out of these missions included finding out that Titan’s surface can’t be seen in visible wavelengths (due to its thick atmosphere), and spotting several rings of Saturn that were not visible with ground-based telescopes. The advantage of this is it won’t have to store as much oxygen on board the spacecraft as past spacecraft have, thus reducing launch costs. Computer screens serve as windows, letting the crew see the launch tower go by, then the moon. Getting a light down there that can shine far enough to see anything is no easy task.

MORIS can be used as an optical imager and as an optical guider for SpeX. Can sunglasses protect you from eclipse? After traveling nearly 300 million miles, Perseverance landed inside Mars’ 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. It will spend roughly the next two years searching for signs of past microbial life and possible habitable environments, while also collecting samples that can be returned to Earth by a future mission campaign. While the demand for Cabbage Patch Kids eventually died down, the toy is still going strong more than three decades later, with sales of $50 million a year as of 2014 — and yes, you can still take a visit to Babyland General Hospital to witness the miracle of CPK birth the next time you’re in Georgia. Toys have always followed popular television shows and movies — from the countless Mickey Mouse dolls on the market to the explosive sales of “Frozen” merchandise following the 2013 Disney blockbuster film.

Mattel launched the Hot Wheels line — a series of miniature diecast metal cars — in 1968. Despite a toy car market already dominated by the popular Matchbox line, Hot Wheels was an instant success. A series of sequels followed, all with its own line of merchandise. Today, toys are big business, and many end up spurring major franchises, inspiring TV shows, films and entire lines of non-toy merchandise. Interest shall be credited to the account at the end of each FY where account stands at the end of FY. While the panel considered possible medical issues or aircraft maintenance problems, in addition to the weather and air traffic control factors, the end verdict was that the crash was caused by pilot error. It’s even possible for the audit to have a happy ending. Lunar Prospector was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition and possible polar ice deposits, measurements of magnetic and gravity fields, and study of lunar outgassing events. Another way to check for cheap imitation is to study the market prior to buying the product. Andrejczak, Matt. “Hasbro Hitches Sales to Transformers Sequel.” Market Watch. Gustafsson, Katarina. “Lego Tops U.S. Toymaker Rivals as Full-Year Sales Jump 10 Percent.” Bloomberg.

Despite a bump in the road during the ’90s when the company faced down bankruptcy, Lego now holds rank with Mattel and Hasbro at the top of the toy industry chain. Ole Kirk Christiansen was a simple carpenter when he invested in a plastic injection kit during the 1940s. No one could have guessed that his company Lego would become one of the biggest toy makers on the planet in just over half a century. The series enjoyed numerous revivals over the years, but interest truly peaked with the release of a 2010 animated series “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” People of all ages tuned in to relive their childhoods, or fell in love with MLP for the first time. The first concern was to determine if there were enough consumables to get home. Never get cheap product originating from countries like China and compromise your health. Calvin Coolidge (No. 30) had an even stranger health remedy. Read on to learn more about some toys that started small and went on to become big brands, eventually bringing in millions or even billions of dollars to their creative and manufacturing teams.