There can't be a hobby without
hobbyshops and now the internet offers plenty of places
to shop for space hobby related stuff.
Some of these space shopping
sites provide a general
catalog of space items while others specialize.
Space bookstores
are also popular.
Now a number of space
services are available as well. These consumer
services include direct-to-home satellite TV, 2-way
broadband internet to the home, digital satellite radio,
and GPS.
Interior of the Bigelow
Aerospace Genesis 1 spacecraft in orbit. The company
is
accepting items from the public for placement inside
the next Genesis module
to launch to space in the fall of 2006. See Fly
Your Stuff
Space
Travel for People
Several companies now offer tickets to fly on suborbital
spaceflight vehicles. The first such vehicles are expected
to begin test flights by late 2007. It is also possible
to obtain a flight to the ISS for around US$20M. The
Space
Tourism section provides lots of information about
this kind of service.
Here is a list of travel agencies that provide not
only spaceflight packages but also astronaut training,
"zero-gravity" on airplanes flying parabolas,
tours of spaceports, etc.
SpaceWander
Virtual Space Trip! - this adventure and space
tourism travel site also offers a cool interactive
multimedia trip from earth to Mars.
Wildwings
is a UK based travel company that offers various adventure
tours, such as trips to Anarctic. It is now developing
a space
tours package. WildWings is the UK Sales Agents
for Space Adventures Inc. (see above) and is taking
deposits on suborbital flights.
WhereInTheWorld
- Final Frontier - this adventure tourist company
will reserve you on a sub-orbital flight, Space Camp,
Shuttle launch and more.
Items
flow in Space, Small Payloads
Several companies now sell rides into space for small
payloads such as school science projects, collectables
and memorabilia, etc. Most of these companies currently
provide only suborbital spaceflights.
Bigelow
Aerospace - place photos and other small items
in their orbiting modules
Fly
Your Stuff - Bigelow flew personal items on
the Genesis II spacecraft launched in June of
2007. However, they have suspended the program
for future spacecraft.
Space
Burial
Portions of cremated remains of the deceased have been
launched to space as a memorial and tribute to their
lives. Currently, at least one company offers this service.
Here is a sample of stores that
sell space related items. Note that many science museum
shops will sell such items as well.
U.S.A.
All the
Right Stuff
Online shop for space gifts including including toys,
figures, sapce food, etc. They also have a special section
of space
party items.
Explore
Toys: Space Store Explore
Toys offers a big selection of science and educational
toys related to space exploration, astronomy, science
projects, and more.
Museum
of Flight Giftshop
This Seattle museum emphasizes aviation but has some
space items as well. Check out the giftshop for their
space merchandise.
Smithsonian
Store
Unfortunately the Air & Space Museum doesn't seem
to have an online gift shop of its own. However, the
Smithsonian Store has a number of space related items.
Note that the store in the Smithsonian National Air
& Space Museum itself is very large and offers a
huge variety of space items.
The
Spacestore
The Space StoreTM was begun as a family business
owned and operated by Dayna Steele-Justiz, a radio talk
show host in Houston, and Charlie Justiz, a research
pilot for NASA. The SpaceStore eventually became part
of Spacehab. However,
it is still run by Ms. Steele.
Armagh
Planetarium, N. Ireland
The Armagh
Planetarium (College Hill, Armagh, Co. Armagh, BT61
9DB, N. Ireland) provides an online store with astronomy
and general space items for order. Departments include:
AstroGifts Globes Postcards,PostersCharts SlideSets
Videos
Space
County Souveniers - Located near Vandenberg AFB,
Space Country "supply image products in support
of government and commercial space programs. Space
Country Souvenirs is a leading producer and wholesale
distributor of space program patches, emblematic jewelry,
caps, t-shirts, and other memorabilia for NASA, the
aerospace industry, the military, dealers, gift and
souvenir shops worldwide."
The following space shops specialize
in areas such as clothes or in items that support a
particular project. Some of these are general stores
that have a specialty sideline not offered by many other
general stores.
Most of the sections at HobbySpace
offer links to stores selling items related to particular
topics. Examples include:
DestinySpace.com
- portion of the proceeds of space tourism apparel
sales go to support space organizations.
Lunar
Traders Catalog - The Lunar
Resources Company and the Artemis
Project, both devoted to the commercial development
of the moon, provide this large catalog of Lunar and
space related products. These include paper postcards,
calendars, bumper stickes, and more.
Mars
Society Store Support the Mars Society and its
efforts to promote Mars exploration by shopping at
its store for books, videos, etc.
The
Planetary Society Store - Posters, calendars,
science kits, and other items related to space science
and planetary exploration.
SETI
Institute Gift Shop - Support the search for extraterrestrial
intelligence at the SETI
Institute with purchases at their gift shop. Items
include: Books, T-shirts, jewelry, and more.
Space
Island Group Store - T-shirts, videos and other
items from the Space Island Group project to build
a space hotel from shuttle external tanks.
Final
Frontier Jerky Gregory Nemitz, businessman and space activist,
runs the firm BeefJerky.com. He succeeded in 1996 in
sending a package of his Final Frontier Jerky to Mir
via the shuttle
mission STS-79. By all reports, the jerky was a
great hit with the astronauts and cosmonauts.
A recent article in Space News (April 23,2001) reported
on his efforts to get a delivery of his popular space
food to the International Space Station.
Spacecraft
Films
This company provides an on line store of DVDs with
a wide range of space documentaries, historical footage,
and other space related video.
In addition, some productions are enhanced with "high-quality
computer generated images matched to actual mission
audio to provide stunning realizations where video or
film footage doesn't exist."
Space Pen
Learn about and purchase the famous Fisher space pen
that was developed for NASA. It is "a ball point
pen that will write smoothly in a vacuum. at any angle,
underwater, over grease, in hot and cold temperatures,
with an estimated shelf life of over 100 years."
Space
Posters * Images * Prints
Many of the stores listed on this page carry various
space related posters and high quality prints. Here's
a short list of some particular poster/print sites:
AllPosters
offers some astronomy and other space related posters.
Astrographics
- Astronomy, remote sensing, and other types of space
photos, posters and calendars.
Tranquility
Posters - " dedicated to reproducing the
most stunning images of modern history in art quality
poster format. Each image is paired with the insightful
words of great visionaries that, when combined with
the images, give more profound meaning to both."
SkyImageLab
- "Digitally mastered astronomy photos and images
of the Earth, its Sky, the Planets and their Moons,
our Star, the Stars, our Milky Way, and Galaxies near
and distant...."
