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This paper proposes to discuss a specific representation of the space adventure: scale models. Having become popular in the 1950s, these models have continued to attract a popular following to this day—as evidenced by the sale of replicas online in various materials, and the many collectors keen to get their hands on earlier iterations of such models. In so doing, this paper seeks to demonstrate how the general public welcomed a sense of familiarity with the prospect of space travel, but also came to confuse potential realities with the associated fantasies of science fiction that also capitalized on model-making. As such, space models of various kinds, whether realistic or fanciful, aroused interest in planetary travel, and even kept alive the hope of such an endeavor when space activities hit a lull. The fascination for actual rockets fueled consumer demand for bigger scale models (such as models of the Saturn V moon vehicle) capable of coexisting with science-fiction models of spacecraft (like the Starship Enterprise) existing only in the realm of fantasy. Model kits thus came to represent an elementary materialism that helped young (and not so young) generations grasp some concepts of space travel. In so doing, they offered a measure of plausibility that exceeded the contemporary realities of space travel, though not its potential.