LEGO has officially revealed the LEGO Ideas Women of NASA (21312) set. There were images of it that showed up online a few days ago but we now get the details of it. It will be available starting on November 1 for a retail price of USD/Euro 24.99 and if you’re in New York City on October 28, you can meet the designer of the set Maia Weinstock, aka 20tauri.

Follow in the footsteps of 4 pioneering women of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration—America’s space agency) with this fun and inspiring LEGO® set. Build the Hubble Space Telescope and learn astronomy with the ‘Mother of Hubble’ Nancy Grace Roman. Develop the software for space missions with computer scientist Margaret Hamilton. And launch the space shuttle with Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, and Mae Jemison, the world’s first woman of color in space. Build, play, learn and one day you too could become a science, technology, engineering or mathematics superstar!

A personal tribute to pioneers

Science editor and writer Maia Weinstock combined three of her personal passions in designing the Women of NASA set for LEGO® Ideas: space exploration, the history of women in science and engineering, and LEGO building.

“I thought people might like to build their own display featuring minifigures of accomplished women in the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] professions. For the vignettes, I wanted to contextualize each person in terms of her contribution to NASA history.”

“I was absolutely elated when the project reached 10,000 supporters! The set clearly touched and inspired many, as it reached 10,000 supporters in just 15 days. The night on which it appeared we’d reach 10K, I stayed up until 4:30 or 5 in the morning so that I could watch the 10,000th vote come in. I didn’t get much sleep that day, but it was thrilling!”

LEGO® Designers Gemma Anderson and Marie Sertillanges were thrilled to help refine Maia’s model into an official LEGO set.

“I was extremely excited about working on this one, especially as I had already heard of it and really wanted it to become a set,” says Gemma. “My focus was on ensuring that the model had stability, the colors were aligned and the subjects were accurately portrayed, all while staying respectful to the design of the original model.”

For Marie, “The main challenge in designing the minifigures and the decorations was that I could not make anything up. Every detail was important and needed to match reality, since they represent real-life women. It was beautiful to hear some of the stories behind the scenes, like how Sally’s name tag was changed from ‘Sally Ride’ to just ‘Sally’ at her own request.”

Pre-release box signing event

To celebrate the upcoming release of the Women of NASA set we’re happy to have Maia Weinstock join us at the Flatiron District LEGO Store in New York City to meet and greet fans, while signing the Women of NASA LEGO set at this exclusive pre-release event.

Date: 28th October, 2017 from 10am – 2pm

Location: LEGO Store, 200 5th Avenue, Flatiron District, New York City.