The LEGO Ideas second review results of 2016 saw a great selection of sets, but alas only one could get through the selection process at the time – the Women of NASA set. Fast forward a few months and the  LEGO Ideas Voltron set also made the cut, but the review process of that piece was delayed initially.

LEGO’s official description below:

Build, play and learn from inspiring women of NASA!

We’re incredibly excited to finally show off the first official images of the inspiring LEGO Ideas 21312 Women of NASA set designed by LEGO Ideas member Maia Weinstock (a.k.a. 20tauri) from the USA.

The Women of NASA set will officially be landing on store shelves from the 1st of November, 2017 for a recommended retail price of USD/Euro 24.99.

However, if you’re in New York City you can already get your hands on the set on the 28th of October, 2017 as Maia will be visiting the Flatiron District LEGO store to meet and greet fans and sign sets. More details below

 

Here is the official description:

Follow in the footsteps of 4 pioneering women of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration—America’s space agency) with this fun and inspiring LEGO® set. Build the Hubble Space Telescope and learn astronomy with the ‘Mother of Hubble’ Nancy Grace Roman. Develop the software for space missions with computer scientist Margaret Hamilton. And launch the space shuttle with Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, and Mae Jemison, the world’s first woman of color in space. Build, play, learn and one day you too could become a science, technology, engineering or mathematics superstar!

 

A personal tribute to pioneers

Science editor and writer Maia Weinstock combined three of her personal passions in designing the Women of NASA set for LEGO® Ideas: space exploration, the history of women in science and engineering, and LEGO building.

“I thought people might like to build their own display featuring minifigures of accomplished women in the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] professions. For the vignettes, I wanted to contextualize each person in terms of her contribution to NASA history.”

“I was absolutely elated when the project reached 10,000 supporters! The set clearly touched and inspired many, as it reached 10,000 supporters in just 15 days. The night on which it appeared we’d reach 10K, I stayed up until 4:30 or 5 in the morning so that I could watch the 10,000th vote come in. I didn’t get much sleep that day, but it was thrilling!”

LEGO® Designers Gemma Anderson and Marie Sertillanges were thrilled to help refine Maia’s model into an official LEGO set.

“I was extremely excited about working on this one, especially as I had already heard of it and really wanted it to become a set,” says Gemma. “My focus was on ensuring that the model had stability, the colors were aligned and the subjects were accurately portrayed, all while staying respectful to the design of the original model.”

For Marie, “The main challenge in designing the minifigures and the decorations was that I could not make anything up. Every detail was important and needed to match reality, since they represent real-life women. It was beautiful to hear some of the stories behind the scenes, like how Sally’s name tag was changed from ‘Sally Ride’ to just ‘Sally’ at her own request.”

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It is now official, the UCS Millennium Falcon will be the biggest LEGO set ever produced ?

*UPDATE*

This is now being pretty much unanimously referred to as a new UCS (Ultimate Collectors Edition) Millennium Falcon, So I thought I would look into how it stacks up against the previous version – 10179.

The UCS millennium Falcon 10179 had a whopping 5197 parts, but with the announcements so far, we can figure out the new set will contain a staggering 7,541 parts! That’s an extra 2,344 pieces! which would be a big set by itself. This means it will either be bigger or far more detailed than the last version that can be viewed here.

Why Re-Release the UCS Millennium Falcon?

The first UCS Millennium Falcon was released in 2007, so a ten year anniversary is a nice time – there a lot more LEGO lovers having their eyes opened to it every year, and perhaps you always wanted the UCS, but couldn’t afford the price tag from eBay. They have become quite a sort after item, going for upwards of £2000. Check out some current eBay offerings:

Here – £550 – 24 Bids

Here – £1020 – 4 Bids

Here – £1875 – 54 watchers

*UPDATE END*

Advertising works on me, and my brain is set to super-hype! What on earth could be bigger than the already massive sets in the star wars range such as LEGO Death Star, and the UCS (Ultimate Collectors Series) sets like the tie fighter, snow speeder and Slave 1?! It boggles the mind, but LEGO themselves have said it is the biggest set yet, so it must be right?

The hype train is at full speed with LEGO teasing and clarifying that this is THE BIGGEST LEGO SET EVER, beating out the previous record holder that was the Taj Mahal. It’s not even beating it by one or two bricks, but over 1000! Check what LEGO posted about the mystery set below:

The biggest LEGO set to date is the 5,922 piece Taj Mahal but something BIGGER is coming… the newest LEGO Star Wars set is 1,619 pieces bigger!

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The new Lego Ideas set is apparently the biggest set that Lego has made as part of the Ideas range, and measuring around 1 metre high and containing 1969 (is this for real?) lego elements, it’s easy to see why.

Lego Ideas Saturn V Design

The beautifully recreated rocket can be displayed as a whole, or in separate parts depending on your preference. The set even contains small stands that can support the sections for displaying the model horizontally.

The front section even has a nose cone that breaks away to reveal a mini version of the moon lander, a very nice touch for any NASA or space lover.

This set is pretty awesome, and being that the mars rover was the first LEGO Ideas set that I bought, this one is definitely on my radar!

The LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V (Set number 21309 ) was designed by the hugely talented LEGO Ideas members Felix Stiessen (saabfan) and Valérie Roche (whatsuptoday).

Official Description

Make history with the LEGO® NASA Apollo Saturn V, the first rocket to put people on the Moon! Build the 3 stages of this stunning meter-high rocket and display it on the stand or launch into orbit. Offload the S-IC and S-II sections, dock the lunar lander with the command service module, and complete a successful Moon landing mission!

The set also includes 3 stands to display the model horizontally, 3 new-for-June-2017 astronaut microfigures for role-play recreations of the Moon landings, plus a booklet about the manned Apollo missions and the fan designers of this educational and inspirational LEGO Ideas set.

Easter Eggs

The Saturn V rocket that famously put man on the moon for the first time, was the Apollo 11 mission. Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to set foot on the moon, and they did so in 1969, so is it a coincidence that this set has 1969 pieces? 😉

About the Master Builders

The below is from the official announcement of the Saturn V rocket from LEGO Ideas Blog:

Felix and Valérie’s collaboration was guided by a shared passion for space exploration

Despite never meeting in person, space and LEGO fans Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche beat the odds with their wonderfully brick built version of the iconic Apollo rocket. It was a collaboration that tested their skills in numerous ways but, as it turns out, the long-distance collaboration also proved to be a significant benefit to their project, as Felix states “there were often times when one of us abandoned the project for a few weeks and came back to it later; however, thanks to the fact that it is a collaborative project, it was always the case that one of us continued making progress on the project and re-motivated the other“.

Felix and Valérie’s collaborative spirit was tranferred to the LEGO design team as well, who took over the project once it was approved, in order to ensure it lived up to LEGO quality standards. Two designers, Michael Psiaki and Carl Thomas Mirriam, motivated by their enthusiasm for space, teamed up to bring the final model to life. “We were actually not asked. I was so excited when I heard that the project was potentially going to happen, and told Carl about it because I knew he was also a space fanatic. We decided it would be really cool to work together since it is such a big mode, so we approached the Ideas team about helping develop the product”, Michael said.

History of Apollo and Saturn V

The Saturn V (spoken as “Saturn five”) was an expendable rocket used by NASA between 1967 and 1973. It was used for the most famous launches, such as Apollo 11, the one that put humans on the moon, and Apollo 13, the one where everything went wrong (watch the film).

To clarify, the Saturn V model number is the name given to the design of the rocket itself, whereas the Apollo missions i.e., Apollo 11, is a mission number that used the Saturn V rocket. Below is an image of the Saturn V in each of its missions, courtesy of Wikipedia.

The three-stage liquid-fueled super heavy-lift launch vehicle was developed to support the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon and was later used to launch Skylab, the first American space station. The Saturn V was launched 13 times from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with no loss of crew or payload. As of 2017, the Saturn V remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful (highest total impulse) rocket ever brought to operational status, and holds records for the heaviest payload launched and largest payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) of 140,000 kg (310,000 lb), which included the third stage and unburned propellant needed to send the Apollo Command/Service Module and Lunar Module to the Moon.

The largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM as the lead contractors.

To date, the Saturn V remains the only launch vehicle to launch missions to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit. A total of 15 flight-capable vehicles were built, but only 13 were flown. An additional three vehicles were built for ground testing purposes. A total of 24 astronauts were launched to the Moon, three of them twice, in the four years spanning December 1968 through December 1972.

Further reading:

Lego Shop

Brickset Coverage

Engadget Coverage

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