— NASA's Artemis moon-bound rockets, spacecraft and suits are landing at a Michigan museum — piece by toy piece.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn is opening "Artemis Adventure with LEGO Bricks" on Sunday (Oct. 18). The hands-on exhibition is devoted to the science and engineering needed to return astronauts to the moon.

"Designed for a wide range of ages and abilities, Artemis Adventure with LEGO Bricks blends open-ended play with moments of reflection and discovery. It's a space to build, experiment and explore what it takes to reach the moon—and what comes next," reads a description from The Henry Ford.

As guests enter Artemis Adventure they are given the opportunity to take on a role of either an astronaut, scientist or engineer. Moving between build stations, they engage in assembling lunar landers, racing rovers across a rocky terrain and designing habitats for future moon and Mars missions, all using LEGO toy bricks.

Each LEGO build challenge introduces the concepts of innovation, collaboration and problem solving.

Standing tall throughout the exhibit hall are large-scale LEGO sculptures based on NASA's vehicles and hardware. There is a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that took almost a week to build — 158 hours — using 13,184 pieces. There is also a 9,800-brick Orion spacecraft, replicating the Lockheed Martin capsule that the Artemis II astronauts used to fly by the moon earlier this year. The LEGO Orion required about half the time to build as the 10-day mission needed to fly out and back.

Other large models include a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (25 hours, 8,200 pieces) and a Human Landing System (HLS) based on SpaceX's Starship (220 hours, 24,764 pieces). There are also sculptures of the International Space Station (182 hours, 29,532 bricks) and "One Giant Leap for Mankind" (80 hours and 4,600 bricks) and Apollo Lunar Module 'Eagle' (119 hours, 10,749 bricks), which together celebrate the first time we went to the moon.

Another life-size build provides for a special spacesuit photo opportunity. It took nearly two weeks to build the stand-up, which adds a LEGO-touch to the Axiom Space and Prada designed lunar garments. Visitors can stand behind the display to appear as if they are wearing one of the AxEMU lunar suits.

"The experience concludes with a future-facing zone where creativity and imagination soar. Visitors design Mars habitats, bring drawings to life in interactive projections and leave inspired to pursue their roles in space science," reads the exhibit's description on The Henry Ford website.

Developed by the touring exhibition company Flying Fish, Artemis Adventure with LEGO Bricks first premiered at Science World in Vancouver, Canada in June 2025. It has since been shown at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle from May through September of this year.

Artemis Adventure with LEGO Bricks will be at The Henry Ford through Jan. 3, 2027. From there it is scheduled to travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Richmond, Virginia; Ashland, Nebraska; and Hampton, Virginia, according to Flying Fish.

During the same span of time — Oct. 18, 2026 through September 4, 2028 — NASA is anticipating launching at least one, if not two Artemis missions. Artemis III will test rendezvous and docking techniques with at least one, if not two different types of human landing systems, in 2027. Artemis IV may land astronauts at the lunar south pole, advancing NASA's goal to establish a moon base.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, which is billed as the largest indoor-outdoor museum complex in the United States, has previously hosted space-themed traveling exhibits (including "Apollo: When We Went to the Moon") and has examples of early space memorabilia among its 26 million artifacts.