Major Matt Mason's space buddy Jeff Long, the first black American in space. Sitting atop a "white" cat trac against an orangish lunar background that shows a Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) making it's decent to the surface. Waving at us as the other figures on the cat trac cards.

Jeff Long is the most difficult and rarest, hardest to find of the four astronaut figures. This is the only way the figure could be purchased, with the exception of the window boxed astronauts sold through space centers in those days. The boxes simply read Mattel Astronaut.

PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:
5" x 8" hole-punched blister card.

DEALER CATALOG SPECS:
Each in a standard pack of 1 doz. Wt: 4 1/2 lbs. Also included later in 2 different assortment packs #A6334 and #A6335. Check these out under their own listing on our stock number list.

VARIATIONS:
Molded in "black" rubber as the rest of the crew, Jeff's spacesuit is "blue" paint with "black" straps and "white" pockets. The back has the large copyright date. There are figures painted in a light "blue suit and others have a more medium to darker "blue" paint. Otherwise I believe there are no other variants. Except in Mattel catalog ads.

COMMENTS:
Jeff Long interestingly is the only astronaut figure that his first and last name do not share the same first letter. Like Matt Mason, Sgt. Storm and Doug Davis. Even the two characters from the board game Capt. Chuck and Lt. Len have the same letters at the beginning of their first and last names! What was Mattel thinking? Was this to make Jeff unique in name as well as race?

ALSO INCLUDED IN:
Mattel Astronaut Box # 8874. Each in a plain window box designated Mattel Astronaut. These were sold only at NASA Space Centers.
Dealer catalogs show Jeff as being included in stock number #6337 Space Mission Team instead of Sgt. Storm. However I've never seen this variation. Any info would be appreciated on this matter.