The partnership with ESA grew with the launch of a PLAYMOBIL astronaut training team in 2021, which coincided with the launch of ESA’s real-life astronaut recruitment campaign.

This set included a clever robot called ROBert, who also appeared with ESA astronauts Luca Parmitano and Matthias Maurer, and other ESA experts in educational videos that explained space technology and showed young space fans how you can become an astronaut.

This was followed at the end of 2021 with the release of an ESA-branded PLAYMOBIL Mars Expedition set, designed to inspire children who might grow up to explore the Red Planet for themselves one day.

Björn Seeger from the Horst Brandstätter Group, the makers of Playmobil, commented: "With the cooperation between ESA and PLAYMOBIL, we have a unique opportunity to explain space and the world to children in a fun way through play.”