A new star is born in space -- a platinum blonde one

Roni, the retro flight attendant

April 10, 2000
Web posted at: 1:32 PM EDT (1732 GMT)

In this story: Sponsor a star in its own right Reigning space siren is no dummy RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Richard Stenger
CNN Interactive Writer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Dressed in a short dress with matching skycap and long leather boots, Roni the retro flight attendant has become something of a cult star in the aerospace trade. She is also a symbol of the lengths to which companies will go to attract attention in the highly competitive and usually conservative industry.

A tall, striking, platinum blonde, Roni turns more heads than traditional models at space conferences, the ones that look like mini-satellites, rockets and shuttles.

High school boys, corporate executives and Air Force generals alike queued in front of Integral System's booth at the National Space Symposium last week, all to meet Roni and receive her autographed glossy photo.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Private companies in space

"You are my favorite co-pilot. You take me to new heights," she scribbles in racy red ink for one admirer. "It gets riskier as the week goes by," she says.

Roni's handout picture is the same as one published in trade publications advertisements. Symposium conventioneers as far away as Paris recognize her right away. A professional model, who like Cher or Madonna professes to have only one name, Roni takes her new role as space siren in stride.

"When I was called by my agent to try out for a retro flight attendant, I was ecstatic. It's certainly cutting edge," said the former Capitol Hill legislative aide, half joking, half serious.

Roni has her share of critics in the aerospace industry, a conservative culture with close ties to the military where members try to fit in, exhibit normalcy and avoid making waves.

"A few people are offended," acknowledges Don Johnson, a software engineer with Integral Systems, a company that designs ground systems and software for satellite communications. "But we had such a positive response at an earlier conference that we decided to keep Roni going."

Whether riding her coattails or not, the Lanham, Maryland-based company has become a star in its own right. Forbes Magazine a few months ago ranked it the 38th best small company, based on profitability and growth.

Other symposium exhibitors present interesting eye-catchers to stop passerbys, some potential customers. One software company brought an imitation F-16 fighter cockpit. Visitors could pilot the jet, using a simulated flight program.

Spacesuit display by Hamilton Sundstrand at the National Space Symposium

More traditional models of space shuttles, future shuttles, powerful rockets, radar booms, shiny satellites and the International Space Station dot the symposium exhibit floor.

"We want to share full product line," says a Boeing representative, pointing to scaled-down satellites and a mini-space station. "A customer might know only about the Delta rockets, even though we have a gamut of products."

Only two other humanoids really stand out in the crowd, a pair of manikins wearing the latest space suit fashions, compliments of Hamilton Sundstrand, a United Technologies company.

Yet Roni, who reigns supreme at the symposium, is no dummy. Holding up a giveaway item from another booth, a squeeze-able hand exerciser that looks like the gray matter inside a human cranium, she quips:

"Look, a model with a brain."

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