Disney Space Station S-1 (1955)

Scale: 1/300
Initial Release: 1958
Medium: Styrene
Kit Rarity (Original): 5
Glencoe Release 3

About the Design

The Werner von Braun space station that appeared in Collier's  magazine featured only two main spokes and top-mounted solar collectors. For Disney's "Man-In-Space" TV series, this updated version of the Space Station One had three spokes for extra stability, a core-mounted nuclear reactor for power, and web-like radiators to bleed excess heat off into space. One-man "Bottle Suits," mounted along the outside of the ring, allowed astronauts to engage in extra-vehicular activities.

Like virtually all 1950's-era space stations, the S-1 was a wheel that rotated to produce artificial gravity, a notion that would be nixed by NASA designers three decades later when designing the real International Space Station.

About the Kit

The S-1 Space Station was available only briefly during the mid and late 1950s. Glencoe Models revived it in 1993, billing it as simply the "Nuclear Powered Space Station."  When purchased by Glencoe, the original Strombecker mold was in very bad shape due to poor storage; reportedly a year of restoration was required before an acceptable run of new models could be produced.

This is a copy of the Glencoe reissue.

Note: Although its appearance in the Disney "Man In Space" TV series should technically classify this as a "Pop Culture" design, that it was based on rigid scientific principals and later appeared throughout the period's speculative literature causes it to be listed in this "Concept Spacecraft" section.