GI Joe is exploring the Final Frontier. He has been doing it since the very early days of NASA, four decades ago. He started in the days of the 60s Mercury Missions with foil suits, space capsules, and hand held thrusters. In the 70s he took part in an Adventure Team EVA with a white suit and a rocket pack to retrieve an errant satellite. A rereleased capsule had an upgraded glow in the dark interior. He had his own blue footlocker, decorated with astronaut graphics inside and out, in which to store his mission gear.
The 80s were a quiet time for the 12" Joe.
(His little cousins carried the flag forward, but that's another story.)
Big Joe was back at it in the 90s. First with a Hall Of Fame space set, and later with a stealth Joe Apollo 13. In 1996 there was another Mercury foil suited figure and a Shuttle astronaut bearing Robert Crippen's likeness. In 1998 a recast of the Mercury capsule was issued, complete with astronaut figure decked out in a white flight suit most reminiscent of the Gemini missions. The 90s finished out with the much anticipated release of an Apollo 11 figure sporting a head sculpt and nametape of Buzz Aldrin.
The year 2000 marked the release of yet another Mercury Capsule, complete with foil clad John Glenn astronaut. The Friendship 7, an FAO exclusive, was the first GIJoe capsule to do away with the large clear plastic canopy and more accurately model the small portholes that early astronauts really looked through. The astronaut was mostly a rerelease of the Classic Collection Mercury gear.
Joe continued into Space in the 21st Century. There was a simple space soldier "2010 Intruder Defense" set with recast pieces from the Hall of Fame set. In 2003 a pair of Astronauts were released giving homage to Life magazine's coverage of the Mercury and Apollo programs. These were mostly rereleases of Classic Collection Mercury and Apollo gear. The Adventure Team made it back into space with new gear in 2004 with the release of the Planet Xenome sets, complete with AT logo, flocked heads, and a buggish space alien to be dealt with.
Those examples are just the mass produced figures that were generally available. Along the way there were also limited edition astronaut items available in limited quantities at select premium stores (i.e. FAO), or GI Joe conventions. A Masterpiece Edition package reissued the original Mercury foil suit with a figure based on the original painted hair GI Joe figure. A 1996 convention exclusive provided a white suited figure and a talking backpack packaged in a reproduction "coffin" box. An update to that figure appeared at a later convention with a revised figure and a blue vinyl remake of the Astro Locker. Blue suited shuttle crew members, both male and female, packaged in colorful cardboard boxes also appeared at conventions.
Some enthusiasts haven't been satisfied with the stock gear, and have expanded Joe's Space Missions by mixing and matching equipment produced for other missions or by custom designing their own equipment.
My hopes are that this page will serve as a resource for those looking to learn more about Joes In Space. All of the images on this page are the property of the HoloSuite operator, ScottE, and are pictures of items in his collection. You may use the images for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit for the source of the images is included with their use.
To comment on the page e-mail me .
Click on an image to see a larger version in a new window.
Space Joes: The Early Years |
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In the beginning there was foil.
Lots of it.
With 3 zippers.
Included were matching foil booties and gloves.
A prime example of a 60s vintage 3-Zipper suit is
shown here worn by a GI Joe made in '64.
The two zippers in the front, though functional, don't effectively help get the suit on the figure.
The opening created by the front zippers don't connect to provide an entry point.
The single long zipper running up the back is used to open the suit wide enough to don it.
A cloth strap runs from the back of the suit, between the astronaut's legs, and up to hook onto a second strap that crosses the chest just below the shoulders. When connected they form a "Y".
The foil on these suits is prone to becomming brittle and tearing or flaking off. Underneath is a plasticized off white base fabric. Another common defect found on early foil suits is a loose or missing hook and eye combination at the back of the collar. |
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| The suits were included in a Space Walk Mystery set that came with a Mercury capsule big enough for GI Joe to sit in. A large, clear plastic canopy covered most of one side of the capsule, and slid to one side to provide GI Joe with a way in. An orange plastic seat belt and metal buckle held him in place. A control handle on each side of the seat kept Joe's hands in place. Unfortunately, those handles proved to be a weak point on the capsule, and are often either reglued or missing on vintage capsules. Another frequently found defect in the old capsules is a crack in the clear plastic canopy. The capsule set came with a 45rpm record that compares Joe's capsule with a real Mercury capsule. The record also provides recordings from John Glenn's orbital Mercury flight. If you click on those links you just passed, you'll hear scratchy samples from the record. |
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The Mercury Astronauts came with mission gear.
Starting at the top is the space helmet. It has a movable visor, and a communications cable that could plug into a hole in the capsule near Joe's head.
Next are two examples of the life support pack worn during spacewalks. A small hole in the top of the chest pack can be used to plug in the helmet's communication cable. The short orange hose was used to tether Joe to his capsule. There really wasn't a place to connect it inside the capsule, so it usually just got pinched in place by closing the sliding plastic window shut on the hose. Hasbro may have realized the problem with the loose tether, as the comic book included with the set places Astro-Joe in danger when his tether breaks. The suction cups on the back of the backpack were used to stick Joe to any smooth surface to help in simulating his spacewalk. They didn't hold that well, which may explain why so many vintage space helmets have broken or missing visors. Between the two backpacks is an example of the wrist camera that came with the early space sets. The camera shows up again in other Adventure Team sets, so they're not hard to come by. The lens is a yellow sticker. These stickers seem to be a frequent casualty over the years. The elastic strap is also prone to losing its elasticity. The next photo shows a hand held gas thruster that the early space sets were equipped with. Note the red dot on the thruster nozzle. This is a feature often worn off over the years. The long wand clipped to the top of the thruster is often totally missing or missing one of its curved ends. Another often seen defect is a cracked or broken section at the bottom of the thruster where the thin gold pipe is. |
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Later releases of the foil suit reduced the zipper count to 2 and then 1.
Foil booties gave way to silver plastic boots. Here is an example of a 2 zipper foil space suit.
The zipper present at the waist of the earlier suit is no longer included. The "Y" strap is still present.
The next photo is of a 1 zipper vintage foil space suit. The diagonal zipper across the front of earlier suits is no longer included. A single zipper up the back allows Joe to don the suit. Notice that the cloth Y-strap is not present on the 1 zipper version of the suit. An orange round sticker with a white rocket ship was standard equipment on the upper left chest of the 1 zipper suit. The helmet, chest and backpack remained unchanged, as did the camera and gas thruster. The Spacewalk Mystery set was rereleased with the single zipper suit. The capsule now sported a glow in the dark interior. A third release of the set reverted back to the blue interior. A unique thing about the third release was the inclusion of a fuzzy haired, clean shaven, hard handed, mute astronaut. It is the only known source of that figure variation. The instructions for the third release still reference the glowing interior, even though it's not in the set. The Hidden Missile Discovery set also included a single zipper suit. This set included a battery operated mine detector, and dimpled metal disks to simulate mines. An electrical circuit is completed when the mine sweeper touches a mine, and a light on top of the detector glows. The comic book included with the set describes how Astronaut Joe finds a hidden missile base while walking on the moon. Although the helmet shape didn't change, there have been some finishing variations found. Some helmets have a complete lack of detailing paint. They're simple white plastic with no silver ring or black rim. These are reported to have been part of a Raging Inferno action set or packaged in BackYard Patrol equipment bags. Another helmet variation sometimes seen is a different tint of plastic on the two halves of the helmet. Some of these two tone helmets are almost tan on one side. The discoloration affects the entire half of a helmet, no more or less, so sun damage isn't likely the sole cause for the mismatch. |
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All of this space gear needs to be stored someplace.
In 1969 a variation of the popular khaki GI Joe footlocker
was created for GI Joe's space equipment.
This bright blue footlocker is the same size as the original
military locker.
The two rope handles are blue. The metal hardware is unchanged.
The picture here shows a vintage Astro-Locker, and a very nice
hand made reproduction of it.
A new internal tray design appeared in the blue Astro-Locker, and the simultaneously released green Aqua-Locker. The distinctive graphics on the outside of the Astro-Locker lid show two space scenes involving GI Joe. The graphics on the inside of the lid show a representative collection of space gear, and how it can be stored in the included plastic tray. |
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Space Joes: The Holy Grail for Collectors |
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The Flying Space Adventure set for the
Adventure Team Joes brought a complete new set of space equipment to the market. There was no attempt
to track a particular existing NASA mission.
This set can be hard to find intact due to the fragile nature
of the helmet, camera, and retrieval tool.
The first picture shows a fuzzy headed, clean shaven, GI Joe astronaut in a white linen suit, bubble helmet (similar to real Apollo gear), and a rocket pack that slid along a line. The suit has a front zipper, but it's mostly hidden by a cloth flap that is attached to the back of the suit, goes between the legs, and snaps to the front of the suit near the collar. A hook and eye is placed at the top of the zipper to hold the suit tight around the helmet. Note that this space set is the first one without silver boots. The yellow, high boots were first issued for FSA, but showed up molded from white plastic in other Adventure Team sets over the next few years. The next photo shows what Joe was flying after. The red space camera is housed within dual orthogonal rings and needs to be retrieved using the long white retrieval tool. Also seen in the picture is another view of the rocket pack, and the spool of string the pack slid along. A comic book included with this set described how Joe's capsule was damaged by a meteor, causing the camera to float away. Joe saves the camera by donning his rocket pack and flying off to the rescue. It's not certain what AT Space Joe was supposed to breathe without a backpack, or why he didn't require gloves while he flew on adventures through space. How he got home after his capsule was punctured by the meteorite is also left up to the comic's reader to figure out. Savvy collectors know that the rocket pack was rereleased molded in red and blue plastic as part of the Flying Rescue set. The string holder for the rereleased set is a darker blue than the one in the original Flying Space Adventure. |
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Space Joes: Not All Joes are 1:6 Scale |
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| In the late 70s the tall Joes went out of production. In their place came a line of three and three quarters inch tall figures. Much like the original Joes, these shorter cousins started with military themes and eventually moved into Space. Several star brigade figures appeared over several years. The picture here shows a Countdown figure standing next to a 30th Anniversary release of a mini-mercury-capsule with its pilot. |
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Space Joes: The Rebirth |
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During the Hall Of Fame Days,
in the early 90s,
a set of Star Brigade Mission Gear was issued
for an Astronaut with Attitude.
Note the pack mounted laser, and hand held
missile launcher. The pack opens up to provide
storage for miscellaneous gear.
Included in the set, but not shown in the picture, is a pair of white, thumbless, mitts. They go on easily, unlike the trickiness of getting a hard handed vintage Joes thumb into a fragile foil mitt, but they look pretty goofy. There's also a pair of yellow boots reminiscent of the Flying Space Adventure gear. The boots are molded to allow the included grey crampons to be snapped onto the boots for those icy planets. |
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Shortly after the release of the movie Apollo 13
in 1995, a new astronaut figure appeared
on the shelves. While the box doesn't mention
either Hasbro or GI Joe, the figure included
is a HOF Grunt, and the gear looks vaguely
familiar. The backpack even has the hole for
mounting the (missing) laser.
The backpack and boots are white for this set. The cloth head piece has been changed from red to a two tone Apollo like style. |
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Space Joes: A Return to Details in the 90s |
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| In 1996 the Classic Collection Mercury Astronaut came on the scene. At first glance it seems we're back to foil suits, but the fabric on this suit is more of a woven silver cloth. The two zippers on the front are back, but there's no zipper up the back of the suit. Eliminating that zipper is possible because the two front zippers actually meet in the lower corner. Opening them both nearly separates the suit into three pieces. There is a waist and legs section, a right arm and neck section, and a left arm section. This is much more accurate with regards to the real Mercury space suits than even the original three zipper vintage 1:6 suit is. The Y-strap is back as well. There's also a small mirror on the chest that models what was really present when John Glenn flew his mission in 1962. In lieu of the life support backback, which Mercury astronauts didn't wear, a hand held air supply is included. |
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Vintage Joe is joined by a Shuttle Pilot
with a sculpt of Robert Crippen
in a 1996 Classic Collection Figure.
It's the first Space Joe without a scar.
The set comes with a hand held air conditioning
unit that attaches to the suit via a short hose.
The only difference between it and the unit included
with the CC Mercury figure is that the shuttle version
is white rather than silver.
The helmet for this figure includes two visors. The outer visor is heavily tinted, which has lead uninformed toy brokers to advertise the set as including an African American figure. |
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In late 1998, a large boxed Mission Splashdown set was released. It was essentially a rerelease of the original Space Walk Mystery set from the 60s. It contains a Timeless Collection figure (reproduction of the original GI Joe figure), a Mercury capsule, two uniforms, and mission gear. The uniforms consist of a basic white linen flightsuit for ground work, and a pressure suit with matching booties and mitts.
The pressure suit is a nearly perfect replica of the original 3 zipper foil suit, but made out of white vinyl.
The space mission gear includes a helmet with visor and communications cord, a life support chest/backpack combination with orange tether, a hand held gas thruster, and a strap on camera. These space accessories are nearly indistinguishable from the original vintage pieces. The Snappyshots show a CC pinhead figure wearing the Mission Splashdown pressure suit and accessories. He's standing next to a vintage Joe in a 3 zipper foil suit and accessories from the original release of the equipment.
Note to collectors: Buyer Beware when picking up vintage space gear that seems a bit too minty. |
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Space Joes: The Long Awaited Apollo 11 |
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In July 1999, just in time to mark the
30th anniversary of the 1st moon landing, the Buzz Aldrin Apollo 11
figure was released.
It's the most detailed suit and helmet of all of Joes Space gear. Overall, the appearance is relatively faithful to the actual Apollo gear. The biggest deviation is the shape of the helmet. The first photo is one of the real Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon. It's included as a reference for comparing the Hasbro Apollo 11 gear. For those that care, yes that is Buzz's signature at the bottom of the photo. He signed it for me in April 1999. The helmet is molded to resemble the padded outer helmet used for Apollo. It's not as round as the real deal was. It has clips that interlock with a ring attached to the neck of the suit. The helmet has a sliding golden visor very much like the real Apollo helmet. Behind that is a plastic bubble that encapsulates the figure's head. The real Apollo helmet has a second clear visor between the gold visor and interior goldfish bowl. The 1:6 suit itself has numerous pockets and hose connections. The pockets are functional, as in they can actually hold items. The stitching is quite detailed, and the panel that seals the zipper is held in place by a combination of velcro and multiple snaps. One nice touch is the removable pouches worn on the calves. Under the helmet, Buzz wears the snoopy hat used to hold the communications gear in place. Buzz also has socks, but other than that, he's buck naked inside that suit. The gloves are a bit of a mixed blessing. From the back of the hand, they look relatively faithful to Apollo. They even have the fingertip detail present on the real gloves. Upon closer inspection, quirks appear. The palm is open so that they snap over the oafish CC hands. The thickness of the gloves at the wrist causes them to look a bit odd. The boots that come with the figure are a nice item, too. They even include the characteristic Apollo tread, so that your moon walker can leave his own footprints behind. |
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Space Joes: Roll Your Own |
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| One of the nice things about relatively generic gear is the ability to kitbash the pieces and make new combinations. Here's a snapshot reminiscent of the closing scenes of the original Alien movie. Take one part GI Joe Star Brigade Mission Gear, season with some Apollo 13 gear, mix in a Xena figure, add a touch of Alien, and make your own storyboard. |
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| A 1:6 custom crew is under construction to honor the crew of the Shuttle Challenger. Click on the picture to see the progress. |
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