The First Woman on Mars: Barbie?
Mattel's 2013 Career of the Year doll is Mars Explorer Barbie.
Aug. 6, 2013 -- Fashion designer. Sea World trainer. Sports star extraordinaire. Now Barbie can add another blurb to her resume: Explorer of Mars.
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Mars Curiosity mission, which was Tuesday, Aug. 6, Mattel, the doll's maker, collaborated with NASA to create "Mars Explorer Barbie."
Barbie has "empowered girls to dream big and explore a world without limits," Mattel said in a statement. This year's "Career of the Year" doll takes that idea literally, as Barbie dons a white spacesuit with neon pink accents to blast off to the red planet.
This isn't Barbie's first trip to outer space. She took her first spacewalk in 1965 and has since gone into space in 1985 and 1994 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the moon landing.
Meet some of the people behind Curiosity's successful year on Mars
Barbie was always known as a jack-of-all-trades. But some of her most recent job outings, including computer engineer, architect and three different types of doctors, have become more technology and science oriented.
But it could just be a reflection of the times. Some dolls in the I Can Be... series are voted on by both her fans and the public. Although the public might be running out of jobs for her, given her illustrious career history.