LEGO knows where you live

March 24, 2021 1:03 PM

The LEGO Group Joins Forces with Former Astronaut Dr. Kathy Sullivan to Launch New LEGO® NASA Space Shuttle Discovery Set (LEGO press release, March 21, 2021). The LEGO Group announces new LEGO® NASA Space Shuttle Discovery set – aimed at adults; Officially revealed by former NASA Astronaut Dr Kathy Sullivan who was part of the original NASA STS-31 mission, over 30 years ago, which launched the Hubble Telescope - capturing images of our universe, to help us understand more about the great beyond.

Availability is expected to start on April 1, 2021, with a $200 price tag. (Gizmodo, March 22, 2021)

posted by Iris Gambol (21 comments total)

LEGO Bookshop
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:04 PM on March 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Dibs.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:42 PM on March 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

I mean I know the Shuttle is sort of the redheaded stepchild of NASA's manned space program for a lot of space nerds - too many compromises, too much political tomfoolery, but for this child of the 80's it scratches the Lego itch for me in precisely the way the Apollo model didn't.

It's probably a good thing I have absolutely nowhere to put one. Even scale model sized.
posted by Kyol at 1:54 PM on March 24, 2021 [5 favorites]

I'm not even a Shuttle fan, but I already have most of Lego's recent high fidelity space sets, and this is a nice Shuttle. No doubt it'll sell out quick. They're also releasing a model of the Ulysses space probe for their loyalty program.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 1:56 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

I feel lust in my heart.
posted by doctornemo at 2:51 PM on March 24, 2021 [5 favorites]

I just forwarded this to a friend who worked on the Hubble.
posted by njohnson23 at 3:00 PM on March 24, 2021

Whenever I see sets like this I get all these conflicting thoughts and emotions. First there's this instinctive WANT because the set looks really neat. The first one that really did it for me was the Maersk cargo ship set which is kind of funny given what's happening in the Suez Canal right now, not a Maersk ship I know but still a cargo ship. Then after that comes "but where would I put it?" because these things take space that I don't really have. I mean I've got space in my shed and garage but those aren't really lego-appropriate spaces. And finally there's "well if it's just a model of THING, then why don't I get a model kit and make that?" and I don't really have an answer to that. For sure making a lego set will be much easier than making a model, well making the model is probably easier but that's just the start because you then need to do all of the painting and sticker application.

I got a Millennium Falcon model for my birthday when I was in high school and I never did more than look at the various parts because I was going to do it "right" but never got around to getting the paints and small brushes that would have been needed so the thing just sat in a box in my room forever. I'm pretty sure I gave it away eventually. If it was a lego set it would have been done in a couple of afternoons at most and even if it got disassembled and put back in its box at least it would have been something I completed as opposed to something I never even started. Maybe that's why lego is everywhere these days while model kits have all but disappeared, like there are a couple of sad kits at Michaels but that's about it.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:13 PM on March 24, 2021 [6 favorites]

Does LEGO sell just mixed boxes of basic bricks anymore?
posted by Thorzdad at 3:35 PM on March 24, 2021

[...] if you were to ask most Canadians, "What do you think the space shuttle is for?" they'd say, "Oh, to go up and move stuff around in space with an arm."

I miss David Rakoff.
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 3:42 PM on March 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

Does LEGO sell just mixed boxes of basic bricks anymore?

Yeah they do and they were pretty much our default "oh shit there's a kids birthday party tomorrow and we need a present but don't really know what they're into" present before the pandemic put paid to birthday parties. So many more brick colours in those boxes too!
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:46 PM on March 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

Somewhere along the line, my wife and I started a tradition of building a big, complex Lego set on Valentine’s Day. We’ve already built all the available NASA sets, so we are going to buy this on April 1 and stick it in a closet for next year.

(Anyone know if they’re going to reissue Curiosity, or, maybe Perseverance? That’s the other one we don’t have yet..)
posted by Alterscape at 3:52 PM on March 24, 2021 [5 favorites]

Does LEGO sell just mixed boxes of basic bricks anymore?

Wait until I tell you the lego bricks in this space shuttle set could be used to make something other than a space shuttle. It's about $0.08 per piece too, which is actually a pretty cost-effective way to get lego bricks, if those are the kinds and colors of bricks you want to get.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:53 PM on March 24, 2021 [10 favorites]

Does LEGO sell just mixed boxes of basic bricks anymore?

Yes, the Classic range.
posted by giltay at 4:11 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

They're also releasing a model of the Ulysses space probe for their loyalty program.

Want!
posted by doctornemo at 4:38 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

Anyone know if they’re going to reissue Curiosity
That'd be lovely, it's a great set, I feel like it was the start of this detailed space lego moment we're having, and the eBay price for a boxed one is still insane! FWIW, I built mine for about $50 a couple of years ago using bricklink (part list, building intructions).
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 4:53 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

This is wonderful (l,m not even a lego nerd, but this is really cool)
posted by supermedusa at 5:24 PM on March 24, 2021

Ooo, I know what I'm asking for for my birthday. I picked up the lunar lander at the beginning of the lockdown for a bit of social distancing fun. First set I'd bought in 20 years. Wound up getting the James Bond DB5 for my birthday last summer. I love the level of detail and engineering that go into the features of modern sets, working transmissions, engines with moving pistons, the DB5 has an ejector seat. Great fun!
posted by calamari kid at 7:07 PM on March 24, 2021

Hmm. This one or the NES set that came out a while back?
posted by MillMan at 10:42 PM on March 24, 2021

24% of people believe that we will find new planets and 13% think we will find alien life in the next 30 years

Wait. . . what? I'll bet you my life savings and the limb of your choice that we find at least 24 new planets in the next year. We've found more than 2500 in the last 12 years. GAIA, TESS, and CHEOPS are all still going. (The last is mostly follow-up of discovered planets, but they'll certainly find new members of systems.) And there are countless ground-based observation campaigns going on all the time.

I can't decide whether to be heartened by the fact that survey respondents are excited about space exploration, or frustrated by how badly science outreach has failed, even among people willing to talk to Lego about space stuff.

On the actual topic, building lego from a kit designed to make a specific thing is so foreign to the way I interacted with the toy as a kid that I don't really understand it. But, it seems harmless and fun. Cheers!
posted by eotvos at 12:06 AM on March 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

Ugh so annoyed my husband will almost certainly buy this for himself before his birthday.
posted by potrzebie at 12:25 AM on March 25, 2021

Ugh so annoyed my husband will almost certainly buy this for himself before his birthday.

It's not too late to construct a modest home jail.
posted by medusa at 4:35 AM on March 25, 2021 [3 favorites]