— How do you top a highly-detailed scale model of NASA's new moon-bound rocket and its support tower? If you are LEGO, you make it so it can actually lift off.

LEGO's NASA Artemis Space Launch System Rocket, part of its Technic line of advanced building sets, will land on store shelves for $59.99 on Jan. 1, 2026, and then "blast off" from kitchen tables, office desks and living room floors. The 632-piece set literally climbs skyward, separating from its expendable stages along the way, until the Orion crew spacecraft and its European Service Module top out the motion on their way to the moon — or wherever your imagination carries it.

"The educational LEGO Technic set shows the moment a rocket launches, in three distinct stages," reads the product description on LEGO's website. "Turn the crank to see the solid rocket boosters separate from the core stage, which then also detaches. Continue turning to watch the upper stage with its engine module, Orion spacecraft and launch abort system separate."

The new set captures all of the major milestones of the first eight and a half minutes of an Artemis mission (with the exception of the jettison of the abort system tower, which on the real rocket occurs before the Orion separates from the core stage). LEGO worked with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to ensure the overall accuracy of the display.

"On the way up, there is sound. You can hear it — it is really noisy, the rocket," said Olaf Kegger, the set's designer at LEGO, at an unveiling of his creation. He added that there is no sound when the motion is reversed, as the real SLS, "of course, does not go [back] down like this."

The mobile launcher base has a flip-open lid to reveal the many gears that are attached to the crank to enable the model to move. The platform also supports an information panel and four astronaut nanofigures representing the four crew members who will launch aboard Orion.

On the Artemis II mission, scheduled for no earlier than Feb. 5 (and no later than April), NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency will become the first people to fly on Orion and the SLS, on their way to becoming the first humans to fly by the moon since the Apollo program more than 50 years ago.

Designed for space enthusiasts nine years of age to adult, the LEGO Technic NASA Artemis Space Launch System Rocket (set 42221) assembles to form a model measuring more than 27.5 inches high, 6.5 inches long and 3 inches wide when the rocket is on top (70 by 16 by 8 cm).

LEGO previously released and still sells the Icons NASA Artemis Space Launch System (set 10341), which while much larger and more detailed — the finished rocket and mobile launch tower stands just as high as the new Technic model flies, but is built up from nearly six times as many pieces.

LEGO's City line also included an SLS-type vehicle as part of the Rocket Launch Center set (60351) but it was simpler in design as intended for a young audience.

The Denmark-based LEGO Group has a long history of representing space exploration with its toys and first collaborated with NASA during the 30-year space shuttle program. The Artemis I mission in 2022 carried four LEGO minifigures on its month-long trip around the moon as part of an educational outreach campaign.