(Yicai) Feb. 6 -- A Space Molly doll of Chinese toymaker Pop Mart has become the first art toy to complete a round-trip journey to space, and it is now on display at Pop Mart Land Beijing.

The Space Molly doll, co-designed by Pop Mart and rocket service provider CAS Space Technology, was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Jan. 12 aboard a Lihong-1 vehicle developed by CAS Space. It returned to Earth smoothly after completing a suborbital flight test.

The doll is now on display at the Pop Mart theme park in Beijing, a member of the company’s management team told Yicai.

The collaboration with Pop Mart to create Space Molly aims to boost the public affinity with and modern appeal of CAS Space, Shi Xiaoning, the firm’s chief designer and administrative director of the Lihong-1 project, told Yicai.

Leveraging the power of cultural consumption, the partnership intends to spark online discussions with the concept of the “first space passenger” and draw public attention to space tourism, Shi added.

CAS Space is a mixed-ownership rocket enterprise. It mainly develops rockets and provides related launch services, but it also designs and manufactures suborbital vehicles. It plans to launch space tourism services in the future.

The company is preparing for a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s technology board, the Star Market, and has already completed initial public offering tutoring, according to the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

CAS Space is now developing the Lihong-2 vehicle, a reusable rocket, expected to become China’s first fully reusable vehicle dedicated to space tourism, designed to be capable of completing more than 30 repeated flights, the company noted.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione