Customer Reviews

Space Explorer Space Shuttle Launch Center Playset with Educational Rocket Poster

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We bought this toy for our 3 year old son who was asking for a "rocket ship" after watching a recent Shuttle launch. We're happy with this because it's a realistic looking Shuttle that has both the orbiter and the fuel tank/rocket boosters. The orbiter's payload bay doors open. The orbiter and the fuel tank separate and can be put back together relatively easily. It's fairly stable as it sits on the launch pad, however the two gray "stands" that are supposed to hold the orbiter in place do not lock or snap on to the launch pad and fall off when moved. Tape is required to hold them place. The astronauts serve no real purpose other than imaginative play because they do not fit inside the shuttle at all (and are not the appropriate scale).

Overall, it's been an ideal toy for a young child who is curious about the space program and wants a realistic looking shuttle to play with.

This toy is great for budding space enthusiasts like my 3 year old. Space shuttle, boosters, tank, astronauts, a place to launch them from, what more can you ask? However, unless you are willing to do extensive repairs on the shoddy construction before you give it, the recipient can well end up in tears like my son did. First, the boosters DO NOT detach from the tank, despite what the description suggests, they are solidly bonded together, and, if your kid has seen a launch on TV, he or she will know that the boosters go first. I had to carefully saw them apart and used Velcro to fix them back on. Second, the tank-to-shuttle connection is just some tabs that don't latch together, meaning they constantly fall apart. A magnet and an anchor plate glued to tank and shuttle fixed that. Third, the two plastic pieces on top of the launch pad, that hold the shuttle steady, are also extremely loose with no positive connection, resulting in constant frustration. Hot-melt glue from the bottom will easily make them solid. Fourth, the doors of the shuttle do not stay closed, I have not repaired that yet.

After all those repairs, my son truly loves it and sleeps with it every night. Before, he just came running every 10 seconds and either asked for help or cried that the thing fell apart in his hands when he was trying to launch it.

Great play value now, construction quality is an insult, especially for the money (it's just a couple bucks worth of die-cast metal and plastic).

Found all sorts of shuttles that did not have the external tank nor booster rockets.

They were specific criteria my child asked for, so when I found this one on Amazon, I was surprised.

Comes with a couple of astronauts, and the tanks are detachable. Sits on a realistic launch pad/crawler.

Great toy, great value- made my kids birthday!!!!

my son loves it, it's not super dynamic but for the price I paid for it, I am surely happy about it, as my boy played with it for a straight week and still likes it a lot.

This product is absolutely cheaply made. I really wanted a space shuttle for my son and now wish I had simply gone without for his birthday. It fell apart within 15 minutes. Literally, wheels broke apart and the shuttle now cannot attach to the boosters in any way. I am just glad he lost interest immediately in his broken toy rather than being upset.

I am off to find something else but will settle for nothing before I buy a replacement.

First is very hard to find realistic Space Shuttles out there, only in some museums and nasa stores you can find very expensive Space Shuttles models over $200 (wood-made).
Now, this model is very accurate in proportion to the size of the orbiter and the SRB's and the main tank. The Shuttle is made by plastic at the bottom, then is metal most of the fuselage and plastic for the bay doors. It has a satellite attached to the cargo bay area when open the doors. Unfortunately the doors don't close properly on launch position (I have to put a little transparent scotch tape to keep them closed).
The orbiter has wheels, Main Landing gear and nose landing gear, all retractable.
The SRB (solid rocket busters) are not detachable from the main tank, it's all one piece (plastic).
Also the orbiter can be attach it to the main tank but is not secure, so if you simulate a take off the shuttle will fall off and disaster happens.
The set is coming with a moving crawler, so you can slowly move it with the orbiter. It comes with two plastic astronauts that are too big. So you can use them around your computer desk.
In the end is a very cool metal/plastic model for adults, I have mine as a display in my computer desk. Lots of friends love it because the details.
For kids, well, they are gonna love it, but they have to take care of it because is a delicate set, it may not last long if they play with it often.

We gave this space shuttle to our 3-year old for Christmas. He is into everything "space rocket". While the space shuttle does sit on the launch pad a bit flimsy, my son does not really care. He loves his "space rocket" and actually prefers playing with the booster rockets more than the actual space shuttle!! Overall, a great Christmas gift!

As soon as I opened this up I tried to open the payload bay doors I hardly opened them and as soon as I did one of them broke off it's a very cheaply made toy and I got about 15 seconds of playable time with it there is a more expensive die cast version of this toy that is roughly 45 dollars I recommend it if you don't want to make repairs.

Sturdy toy for a young boy. Die cast metal and plastic. Cargo bay doors open (my son's favorite part). Smaller parts easily lost but that's a part of boys and their toys, right? Would be better if the small pieces that hold up the shuttle wings on the platform were actually attached to the platform (they're hard to keep track of). Nevertheless, the shuttle and rocket booster combo will stand upright without the wing holders, it's just not as sturdy that way. Very good toy for hours of space play!

This item is very cute, but not tough. My friend has the same item made a few years ago, which is much sturdier. The one I bought, is from the same company, and looks identical, but is no where near as sturdy. The doors came off a couple times, and finally the hinge area broke, so they won't go back on. My friend and I compared them, and the one I bought six months ago is not made the exact same way, even though they are from the same company and look identical otherwise. We paid $18.00 for ours, and it wouldn't have been so upsetting if it were $10.00. Our child does have fun with all the pieces though, including the two little astronauts.