Estes Industries

Estes Industries is an American company which specializes in the design and manufacture of operational model rockets for the general public.

Founded by in  in 1958, the company managed to survive the severe decline of interest in the hobby during the 1990s by acquiring its competitors and subsequently being taken over by affluent holding companies. The company is still in existence today and was sold to in 2010.

Star Trek association
In, Estes became the second company (after AMT) to be licensed to market Star Trek model kits in the US, although their products were strictly model rockets.

Estes released models of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and the Klingon Battle cruiser which were originally packaged in a polypropylene bag with a cardboard liner. In 1991, both models were re-packaged in cardboard boxes for Star Trek's 25th Anniversary. Subsequent releases were also sold in cardboard boxes.