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The future of space -- in Legos (pictures)

With "Lego Space: Building the Future," Peter Reid and Tim Goddard show us their vision for what life in space could be like. And they built it using $10,000 worth of Legos.

Daniel Terdiman
Daniel Terdiman is a senior writer at CNET News covering Twitter, Net culture, and everything in between.
Daniel Terdiman
LEGOspace_COVER.png
1 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

'Lego Space'

In "Lego Space: Building the Future," Peter Reid and Tim Goddard paint a picture of a fictional futuristic space civilization. Known as "The Federation," the society was created by the world's space agencies during "a time of global peace" and by "the greatest scientific minds of the age [working] together." The entire narrative is told through the presentation of Lego models built by Reid and Goddard.
LEGOSpace_launch.png
2 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Space launch

In the book's narrative, space launches, like the one depicted here, became a familiar sight. The moon was used as a major base, and more and more equipment and personnel were transported there, and beyond.
LEGOSpace_curiosity.png
3 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Curiosity rover

In the real-life space history that precedes the beginning of the Federation, NASA's Curiosity rover, seen here in a Lego model, was made to investigate Mars' Gale Crater for signs of biological processes and changes in the Martian atmosphere.
LEGOspace_voyager.png
4 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Voyager

Another real-life element of the book is this model of Voyager 1, seen in an image where it is performing a close flyby of Saturn’s moon, Titan.
LEGOspace_sputnik_profile.png
5 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Sputnik

The Russian satellite Sputnik, made here in Legos, traveled around Earth for three months at speeds of 18,000 miles per hour.
LEGOSpace_engineers-page98.png
6 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Major Golightly finishing his machine

In Reid and Goddard's story, Major Tom Golightly worked on Tranquility Base, doing "his best work on his own. A scientific prodigy, Golightly rose through the Federation's ranks, helping to create a number of the organization's teams. But there was one problem for exploration of space -- the distances were often too huge to go very far. Golightly had a solution: a machine that could travel faster than the speed of light. Here, Golightly tests out his machine.
LEGOSpace_opportunity.png
7 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Opportunity rover

Another Lego model based on real life, this is the Opportunity rover, which was a hardy explorer, and which lasted far longer than scientists had expected.
LEGOspace_gateconstruction.png
8 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Constructing the Gate

Reid and Goddard imagined a "Gate," a device that allowed Federation scientists to explore new reaches of space.
LEGOSpace_moonlanding.png
9 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Moon landing

Clearly, Reid and Goddard hope that readers will understand their futuristic vision of space by understanding the true history of stellar exploration. Among the heroes of space travel, of course, is astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first human on the moon, whose first steps on the lunar surface were watched on television by an estimated 600 million people.
LEGOspace_sabotage.png
10 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Sabotage

Not everything in Reid and Goddard's book is about peace. Here, we see a Lego model depicting a battle, with a pilot wearing a specialized "exo suit."
LEGOspace_moonbase.png
11 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Moon base

Reid and Goddard imagined fleets of container ships transporting vital resources back to Earth via bases on the moon.
LEGOspace_contact.png
12 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Ice extraction

In another fictional vision of the future, we see a Lego model of the extraction of specimens from ice on a planet called Ganymede.
LEGOspace_footprint.png
13 of 13 Reproduced from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Space-Building-Peter-Reid/dp/1593275218/">LEGO Space</a>, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard.

Neil Armstrong's footprint

A Lego representation of the footprint Neil Armstrong left on the moon on July 20, 1969, becoming the first human being to leave one.

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