Lego launches ISS with rotating solar panels and tiny astronauts
Build your own International Space Station with 864 pieces.
It took NASA and its partners many years to assemble the International Space Station. You should be able to pull off the Lego version of the feat in much less time.
Lego announced on Tuesday it will launch an 864-piece plastic-brick version of the ISS on Feb. 1.
An out-of-this-world building experience is coming! 🌙⭐️ The LEGO International Space Station is available February 1st! https://t.co/DZwnyE12EN pic.twitter.com/rcNGTeqC2H
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) January 21, 2020
The ISS set includes three cargo spacecraft, two astronauts microfigures and a tiny NASA space shuttle. The space shuttle is outdated technology at this point, so you'll have to craft your own Soyuz, SpaceX Crew Dragon or Boeing Starliner to get with the times.
"The realistic set features a posable Canadarm2 and two rotating joints that coincide with eight adjustable solar panels, to replicate the out-of-this-world complexity of the real space station that orbits the Earth sixteen times a day," Lego said in a release.
The station measures out to 19 inches (49 centimeters) wide when assembled.
The Lego ISS is part of a 10-year celebration for the Lego Ideas program, where fans submit designs of their own to a voting process. Some of those designs are then selected to go into official production. The Lego ISS is based on a build created by fan Christoph Ruge.
The set will be available online at Lego.com and through Lego stores for $70 (about £55 or AU$100). That's a whole lot more affordable than an actual trip to the ISS will cost a space tourist.
Now we just need a Lego Earth for the ISS to orbit around. Oh look, here's one.
