Being a child of the ’80’s, I grew up both with the NASA shuttle program and the classic space Lego sets. I can’t say that I ever wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up, though I did pretend I was an astronaut with Lego. This, of course, was when the space-themed sets were about exploration and less about aliens, space police and intergalactic warfare.
Lego developed the classic Space series at a time when NASA had wound down the moon missions and abandoned Skylab and were getting ready for renewed space exploration courtesy of the newly developed Shuttle program. Sets with names like Moonrover, Galaxy Explorator and Space Command Center were about open-ended play and discovery and were often staged on moon-like environments. It wasn’t until Lego began developing ongoing story lines for their products that we saw sets sporting names like Warp Wing Fighter, Rebel Hunter and Space Lockup Isolation Base which changed the exploration dynamic.
This is not to say that Lego has changed entirely. Focusing just on the Space line of Lego, the timeline and various series have produced both styles of sets, catering to different types of kids. But I was in it for exploration. And as 2010 will be the last year NASA will launch shuttle missions, the 10213 Shuttle Adventure is a fitting tribute for both NASA’s mark on space exploration and Lego’s mark on space inspiration.
Check out the below video describing the shuttle model in-depth, via the Brothers Brick.
