posted 07-15-2003 05:05 PM               

Man, Lego might as well just siphon the money directly out of my wallet.

posted 11-29-2004 11:28 AM               

Unfortunately, I recently received word from Lego that this series has been discontinued, due to its license with Discovery expiring at the end of 2004. At this time, there were no plans to re-release the sets without the Discovery branding.

posted 06-24-2005 02:01 AM               

"LEGO Bricks" sighted on Mars - again!

Three weeks ago Spirit, the first of NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, sent back pictures of red, yellow and blue elements which look like LEGO bricks and a representation of a robotic LEGO Minifigure named Biff Starling taken on the red planet! Today, Opportunity returned pictures from Mars of another three "LEGO Bricks" and Sandy Moondust, the second "astrobot" representation of a LEGO Minifigure.

The "LEGO bricks" are fastened to a special DVD on the Mars Exploration Rover lander module. The DVD also contains the names of four million people on Earth collected by NASA. The Planetary Society and the LEGO Company provided the DVD, including the testing necessary to qualify it for space flight.

The LEGO Company has been working with The Planetary Society to raise awareness of science and space exploration through the NASA/JPL Mars Exploration Rover mission.

Just like on the first DVD assembly a coded message encircles the second disc. Again, children and other playful explorers around the world are invited to visit the Planetary Society's web site to try to crack the code!

"Representations of LEGO bricks, secret codes, and Astrobots are ways to get people's attention, particularly kids," said Planetary Society Director of Projects, Bruce Betts. "The Opportunity code is more accessible that the Spirit code, so we hope even more of the public will come decode the secret message."

The LEGO Company partnered with The Planetary Society on the Red Rover Goes To Mars project in 1999. By participating in NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, the two organizations' aim is to engage children globally in the thrill of real space exploration. In addition to financial support of the several outreach activities carried through by The Planetary Society, the LEGO Company has also played a special role helping children to identify with the Mars project. "When children see representations of objects looking like LEGO Bricks on Mars, I think they really feel that this is for them - LEGO bricks are for them" says Tormod Askildsen, Senior Director for Community Development in the LEGO Company and responsible for the partnership with The Planetary Society.

Children and young people have been invited to participate in contests and programs like Student Astronauts, operating LEGO Mars Rovers over the Internet and naming the two Astrobots, Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust. Biff and Sandy are tasked with the important mission to keep kids informed about the Mars Exploration Rover mission through their online diaries, which are posted on The Planetary Society's web site.

The LEGO Company and The Planetary Society also conducted the "Name the Rovers" contest for NASA during the fall of 2002. Nine year old Sofi Collis from Arizona won with her essay suggesting the names Spirit and Opportunity among 10.000 submissions.

"As a child I was enchanted by the idea of exploring space. I used to spend hours building spacecraft with LEGO bricks," said Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen owner and President of the LEGO Company, "The early days of space exploration stimulated the creativity of an entire generation, expanded our imagination, and encouraged us to push our limits, making us better and braver human beings. With this project, the LEGO Company wants to help bring part of that magic back. Everything we do is aimed at giving children that same power to create, and by involving children actively in the NASA Mars mission - through playful learning activities - we hope to motivate and inspire the next generation of explorers."

posted 02-13-2007 11:22 PM               

The closest related product introduction was by Lego, which was previewing its Mars Mission new line of building sets. Featuring a few firsts for the classic snap together blocks, including a new color (orange) and new use of pumps and tubing to propel mini-figures around the playsets, the Mars Mission sets pit the astronauts in search of "crystal energy" against little green men (literally).

posted 08-26-2008 05:22 PM               

I was into Meccano myself, Lego came much later. However check this out!

750,000-Brick Kennedy Space Center Is the Mother of All Lego Models

Forget about the Lego Airbus A380 and the Lego Death Star, because this video will show you the mother of all Lego models: the 750,000-brick Kennedy Space Center. Using 1,506 square feet, it took 2,500 hours to build. It includes a 6.13ft-tall Space Shuttle on the launch pad, the space center with a 9ft-long Saturn 1B rocket, and the Vehicle Assembly Building — 8ft long x 6ft high x 5ft wide — made out of 50,000 Lego bricks. I know. Mindblowing. This thing is so massive that it can probably affect Earth's orbit.