[ad_1]
I’m a millennial who wasn’t even born when the space shuttle first flew, but as a child of the early 1980s I was fortunate enough to follow many of its missions until what NASA is pulling out of the fleet in 2011.
Naturally, as a Canadian away from the launch pad in Florida, I first watched him fly on TV. But I dreamed of seeing a launch (literally, as I remember having a fun dream involving running nearby in a golf cart); I finally got the chance to see three launches in 2009-2010 (including Discovery), after graduating from college and getting a part-time job during the last recession that allowed me to travel, although I was counting pennies like I did. I was lucky because the program retired ten years ago on July 21, 2011.
Discovery of the Lego NASA space shuttle. $ 199 at Lego.com.
Build your own Hubble Space Telescope launch with the 2354-piece NASA Space Shuttle Discovery Set from Lego.
So you can imagine my nostalgia when I took a look at the latest Lego set depicting Space Shuttle Discovery. and the Hubble Space Telescope mission, STS-31, which launched on April 24, 1990 – almost exactly 31 years ago. I don’t remember this mission, but I do remember many astronauts upgrade excursions to the telescope over the decades since; the first mission focused on a faulty mirror that accidentally launched into Hubble and blurred its view, while others replaced and upgraded components.
The Shuttle and Hubble were defining elements of space technology for my generation. The shuttle deployed several satellites and helped build the International Space Station, while Hubble mapped the cosmic expansion and showed us cool scenes ranging from pieces of comet hitting Jupiter has a huge image of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) in high definition.
Related: The best Space Lego sets and deals
An epic build
the Discovery of the NASA space shuttle set (MSRP $ 199.99 US) releases Thursday (April 1) with 2,354 pieces to assemble. This is far from Lego’s first set of shuttles, and longtime Lego fans are probably aware that the company has released a Hubble Shuttle Package for children a few years ago.
This set is firmly designed for the adult crowd, for display only. My build with “frustration-free packaging” (meaning parts and stickers were organized in 17 numbered bags and a few unlabeled bags) took me almost 11 hours.
I was moving quite quickly because I have experience in setting up other recent sets of large spaces such as the International space station (864 pieces), the Apollo 11 Eagle Lander (1087 pieces) and the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket (1,969 coins in honor of its launch year, 1969.) But your mileage may vary. Incredibly adept Lego builders will likely time well under 10 hours, while newbies can expect to spend a lot more time. But really, what’s the rush? It’s a set that is worth admiring as you go.
Related: Lego Reveals Hubble Telescope Space Shuttle Discovery Set
In NASA style, I recorded some “lessons learned” from building this set. The first is to have a very large area. My available office space was approximately 3 feet by 2 feet (1 meter by 0.6 meter); I would recommend a little bigger as the organization of the rooms, the ever-increasing manual shuttle became more and more difficult with the hours. I did this at the end, but it was a tight squeeze as the final set is 8 ” (21cm) high, 21 ” (54cm) long and 34cm (34cm) wide.
Then pick up your pace, as there are parts of the set that require a lot of delicacy to put together and you’ll want to be at full energy when these sections come up. One example is the many reflective stickers that need to stick precisely to sections of the cargo bay doors, which happens on the back end of a huge bag of coins where you might get tired anyway. You will also need to be careful that the shuttle base stays together while the upper payload bay is under construction; a piece or two fell off the bottom during my build, but I easily pulled it up.
The diagrams Lego sends out in its wonderful manual – filled with fun facts about shuttles – are mostly self-explanatory, although I struggled in a few places. To admittedly tired eyes, as I built the set over three long days for this story, it looked like Lego was asking me to build two left wheels at one point. Additionally, the Canadarm’s robotic arm has a single piece in the middle that is easy to confuse with other gray joints, so make sure you don’t repeat my mistake by using it in an antenna and scratching my head in utter confusion for 15 minutes until I spotted the misused part.
Related: Lego International Space Station model is out of this world
These are small issues with the otherwise incredible set, however. I had smaller nostalgic flashes of the cockpit construction, with the 1980s-style computers and tiny astronaut chairs. The rudder and flaps were easily engaged on the shuttle frame, along with the motors. Lego has also taken care to minimize the use of black and white parts in places that will not appear on the final build. Using yellows, blues, greens, and reds made it much easier to quickly navigate these sections because otherwise I would have searched for hours for the right part.
I love the way the different parts of the shuttle move when you put it together, although being a klutz I didn’t take the whole thing too far in terms of flexibility. That said, it looks like the wheels fold up and down from the frame. The rudder and flaps swing back and forth. Best of all, the cargo bay doors open and close very easily. You can place your completed Hubble inside this empty space, or stack it inside, or set it aside on a stand; Lego gives you complete freedom to determine your display preferences.
Related: 10 interesting facts about the discovery of the space shuttle
For those who might show up on the shuttle, I love how the set incorporates a bit of education into the build. I’ve mentioned the facts in the manual before, but what I also like is how much the board shows in terms of the shuttle’s capabilities. It is obvious from looking at it that it was designed to land much like an airplane.
The relatively huge size of the payload bay was one of Lego’s main design challenges in making this set work. But it’s worth it, because it shows one of the main functions of the shuttle, which was to transport stuff up and down from space. The shuttle doesn’t quite show the actual capacity of this vehicle, which was typically seven people; however, eight astronauts were possible if you really understood them, STS-61A style. But I can appreciate the relative size of the cockpit which made it difficult to fit into all the seats. As a bonus, I love how you can see some of the seats and computers when you look through the glass windows up front.
This bundle will take a lot of money and time on your part to launch successfully, but if you can afford both of these things, it’s well worth the investment. Shuttle enthusiasts finally have a set that can proudly stand alongside those of the Apollo Generation and the ISS, and the little detailed touches make this set a great tribute to Hubble’s enduring success.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
[ad_2]
Source link