Many people when asked about the space shuttle program will say that they are always amazed at the beauty and power of the launches and the graceful nature of the landings. Try throwing them a curveball and ask them – “What about the on-orbit activities?” That will initiate the deer-in-the-headlights look. Most folks don’t remember much about that. They might mumble something about they know some flights went to the Hubble Space Telescope or to the International Space Station (ISS). Jetstream Collectibles, a company that sells replicas of a number of spacecraft including the space shuttle – is working on changing all that.
They are starting to work with astronauts that rode the shuttles to orbit during its 30-year history to produce a “legacy” line of replicas. These replicas will have a plaque at their base that is signed by an astronaut. More importantly, the plaque will contain statistics and facts regarding a specific mission that the astronaut who signed the plaque flew, the mission’s patch will be engraved onto the plaque and unique aspects of that mission will also be listed.
“It bothered me that people really only saw the covers of the book when it comes to the shuttle’s story,” said Tony Zaremba, CEO of Jetstream Replicas. “What we wanted to do was highlight the insides of that story, all the amazing things that these people did on orbit – we want to provide the folks that buy these replicas with a potent reminder of all the things that the shuttle program has accomplished during its history.”
Jetstream Replicas is based out of New Jersey and is the exclusive distributor for RTM models. Jetstream sells commercial and military aircraft as well as other related merchandise. Zaremba says that selling these particular products is a labor of love.
“I noticed that similar replicas were very expensive, not to mention how high shipping was,” Zaremba said. “We decided we would not be like that, we want to give our customers the best product, sure; but at a fair price.”
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