SpaceKids

Barbie Goes Cosmic in 'Star Light Adventure' This Weekend

Barbie Star Light Adventure still
Barbie and friends venture to space in 'Barbie Star Light Adventure,' playing this weekend in select theaters. (Image credit: Fathom Events)

Mattel's Barbie is headed out of this world. This weekend, in a feature playing in select theaters, Barbie will set out on a mission to save stars across the universe. 

"'Barbie Star Light Adventure' features cosmic princess Barbie in her first intergalactic mission," representatives from the production company Fathom Events said in a statement. 

"Alongside her adorable pet sidekick, Pupcorn, Barbie teams up with new friends to keep the twinkling stars from dimming out and slowing their dance in the sky," the statement continued. "During her action-packed adventure, Barbie soon discovers she may be the leader the whole universe has been waiting for." Information about screening and tickets are available at FathomEvents.com. [Barbie in Space: Iconic Doll's Astronaut Looks (Photos)]

The new film coincides with the launch of a whole line of "Star Light Adventure" toys, including a remote control quadcopter (the Barbie Star Light Adventure RC Hoverboard, which hits stories this fall at $59.99) styled like the one she uses in the show. We checked the gadget out — along with Barbie's flying pet cat — at New York's 2016 Toy Fair. Other smaller accessories and figures are available in Target and Toys R Us stories now, according to Mattel.

As Barbie fans know, this isn't the first time the famous doll has put on a spacesuit.

Earlier this year, Mattel released a "Star Trek"-themed 50th anniversary collection with the likenesses of Nichelle Nichols (who played Uhura in the original series), William Shatner (Kirk) and Leonard Nimoy (Spock) with a phaser and a tricorder.

In August 2013 — the first anniversary of when NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars — Mattel released a Mars Explorer Barbie. The doll was packaged with a cardboard Mars Science Laboratory featuring pink highlights.

The very first astronaut Barbie was released in 1965, at the height of the space race between the United States and Russia. The first Soviet female cosmonaut (Valentina Tereshkova) flew in 1963. The first U.S. female astronaut, Sally Ride, didn't fly in space until 1983.

Another astronaut Barbie was released in 1985, and a "Star Trek" Barbie and Ken set came out in 1996.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.