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LEGO Built the ISS from Plastic Bricks and Sent It to the Edge of Space

If it exists, LEGO can replicate it. The Danish-born company has proven time and time again over the years that there’s literally nothing you can’t make from little plastic bricks, from mockups of real people to life-size cars and anything in between. Until this week though, LEGO had never made a replica of the International Space Station (ISS).
LEGO Ideas ISS 14 photos
Photo: LEGO
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As humanity’s longest-running space lab is getting ready to celebrate the 20th year of continuous occupation, the toymaker decided to launch a tribute to the ISS, made of exactly 864 small pieces of plastic. As fate would have it, the LEGO ISS has not specifically been designed for the occasion, but came to be as a result of public voting.

For some time now, LEGO is running the Ideas line, an effort meant to give its customers a say on what to build next. Coincidence or not, the most voted project of last year’s IDEAS was this here ISS.

The build that came to be after being chosen by around 10,000 people is 7 inches high (18 cm), 12 inches long (30 cm), and 19 inches wide (48 cm). It comprises the station itself (complete with 8 adjustable solar panels), a space shuttle, 3 mini cargo spacecraft, and 2 astronaut figurines. There is also a display stand on which to prop the build.

Assembled, the toy ISS was sent with the help of a balloon “into the outer atmosphere to get as close as possible to the real ISS.” You can watch the entire stunt in the video attached below.

The LEGO Ideas ISS goes on sale on February 1 and it will retail for $69.99.

As for the real ISS, it still soldiers on around our planet, preparing to write history this year by receiving new astronauts shipped from Earth in brand new and shiny private spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX and, if nothing else goes terribly wrong, Boeing.


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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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