BUSINESS: A doll designed by a Donegal toy company is incredibly celebrating its 250th day in Space!
Donegal Toy Company, Arklu, is owned by Ballybofey entrepreneur Ian Harkin and his Lottie Doll franchise has been a staggering success.
A six-year-old American girl named Abigail designed the Stargazer Lottie doll, the doll which travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) with British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake on the Principia space mission. The ‘Stargazer’ Lottie doll is a collaboration with the ESA, and was created by Donegal toy company, Arklu.
This weekend, Stargazer Lottie celebrates #250 days in space. Italian European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti holds the record for longest single space flight by a woman (199 days 16 hours) and now Lottie continues to champion women in space and STEM, inspiring children all over the world to dream big and reach for the stars; from her vantage point on the ISS!
Six-year-old Abigail is the star of a short video by female filmmaker Elena Rossini, about how a young girl designed the first doll to go into space, the mini-documentary now has over half a million views across social media. Tim Peake completed his 186-day stint at the International Space Station on the 18th of June 2016, and Stargazer Lottie is provisionally due to return on August 29th 2016.
Abigail’s idea for an astronomy themed doll to help other kids learn about space, was the inspiration behind Stargazer Lottie. During her time on board the ISS, Stargazer Lottie fulfilled her mission to get kids interested in space.
Arklu have shared online astronomy resources, #LottieInSpace interactive competitions and content during the mission and received letters, photos and videos from inspired children all over the world. During the campaign, Tim Peake sent word from Lottie in space to his 1m following, with a picture from the Cupola showing the Stargazer Lottie Doll, in the box gazing into outer-space, following this Commander Chris Hadfield tweeted a message of encouragement to Abigail and Lottie dolls to his 1.57 million followers.
The ‘Lottie in Space’ video shows Abigail at home with her brother and Mom Zoe in Comox, British Colombia, Canada, talking about her passion for space. Her words capture the specialness and magical wonder of childhood, and the importance of letting children be children, and enjoy their childhood, with unfettered hope and idealistic dreams for the future. For Abigail, that vision which is shared by the company behind Lottie Dolls, has been brought to life and Abigail will welcome home her beloved doll creation on the 29th August;