collectSPACE

I just came across this thread again, and just yesterday published an update. Apologies if this is old news, but at least for now, the International Space Station will not be offered to the public (and if it is ever offered, it will be modified from the model that is now in space): Since the NASA-LEGO partnership was first announced in November, which included revealing an image of the ISS model, fans have been asking how they can build one just like the astronauts. "We've had a lot of people asking about the space station — from every direction people are asking about it," said [LEGO designer Daire] McCabe. "Personally I would love to see us do it so never say never, but there are no plans right now." "One of things about the [space station] model is as it is on Earth, it can't stand because it is too heavy. The solar panels fall off. It will only work in microgravity," he said. -- Robert Pearlman, Editor collectSPACE - The Source for Space History & Artifacts http://www.collectspace.com/

Apologies for the confusion; I had raised the question with LEGO and NASA about the minifigures as it applied to how the sets would be co-branded. NASA's logo will appear within the included educational information (even a poster to be included with one of the sets) but not on the toys themselves. -- Robert Pearlman, Editor collectSPACE - The Source for Space History & Artifacts http://www.collectspace.com/

Hi, I'm the editor of collectSPACE and author of the recent article about the LEGO and NASA partnership. I'm glad to see our photos have been of interest. With regards to the "another two images," those were from earlier LEGO stories we posted and are unrelated to this new NASA partnership. The space shuttle flying on STS-133, space shuttle Discovery's final flight, has been correctly pointed out as the shuttle depicted at the top of our article: LEGO space shuttle launching on NASA's 'flying brick' Discovery. The larger space shuttle, which will be built aboard the International Space Station after being delivered there by STS-134, space shuttle Endeavour's final mission, can be seen here: NASA and LEGO partnership: Bricks in space (scroll down and click on the image to enlarge). Also at that page is a larger image of the new International Space Station set, which will also launch with Endeavour next year. According to LEGO and NASA, the space shuttle and space station flying on STS-134 will become part of the LEGO City line. There are other new sets planned, including a "Satellites" set and exclusive to NASA sets -- not to be sold to the public -- that create interior scenes to the International Space Station. Unlike the 2003 Discovery series of NASA-theme sets, these new NASA partnership LEGO sets will not include minifigures with the NASA logo, but NASA-provided educational information will be included with each set sold to the public. I hope that helps clarify what is flying. We have a few more articles/features planned about the LEGO and NASA partnership, which we'll be publishing over the next few weeks and months. -- Robert Pearlman, Editor collectSPACE - The Source for Space History & Artifacts http://www.collectspace.com/