The top cargo bay doors can of course be opened in there, one can see the flexible manipulating arm (the Canadarm, made by my home country) which was used to bring the HST out of the cargo bay. It features retractable landing gears (which can be released by pushing on the backplate under the thrusters) as well as moveable wing airfoils (that can move up and down by turning the top thruster, have a look at my video). The cargo bay doors are newly designed parts that really add realism to this set. This almost doesn’t look like a LEGO set anymore.

The NASA Space Shuttle Discovery STS-31įront and back. To get it straight, this set represents mission STS-31 that enabled the Discovery Shuttle to bring the HST into space, no more, no less.Īs a former physicist, I like that a lot. It was carried into orbit by Discovery and made astronomical history on its own with incredible imagery of distant stars and scientific information. These design factors were probably chosen because they could also include the most famous piece of equipment brought into orbit with any Space Shuttle so far: not just a part of the International Space Station or a satellite, but the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Perhaps TLG wanted to avoid such controversy and painful memory, and also not to make the set look like a posthumous homage to its crew.Ĭompared to previous editions, the set is this time deprived of the booster rockets, but is much larger and incredibly detailed. We can only guess why: Columbia, the first-ever shuttle to launch into space, was destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003, and all seven astronauts onboard killed. While people were expecting a Columbia Shuttle, for some reason TLG decided to provide a version of Discovery, which was really the third shuttle to blast to space.

Why the Discovery Shuttle and not Columbia? The LEGO Group, therefore, found a good opportunity to release an improved, more detailed version of a space shuttle. There will be many commemoration articles on the way. A small BTS will follow to explain how I typically tackled the task of shooting such a large set into a representative environment (no, I did not sent up in the atmosphere with a balloon, although that would be cool…)įor those who wonder why TLG released yet another Creator Expert version of the shuttle, let me explain: in April we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Space Shuttle program’s first launch. Some of these pictures are displayed throughout this review alongside my review pictures. Not only it’s huge and heavy, but it really gives a feeling this is not a toy anymore, but a brick-built replica.Īs a scientist and space fan, I am glad to have been sent a pre-release set by The LEGO Group and Brickcentral for review and photography. For anyone who loves gazing at the stars and enjoy a fine piece of engineering masterpiece, look for this must-have LEGO set: the 10283 Creator Expert NASA Space Shuttle Discovery, to be released on April 1st.

Lego nasa space shuttle discovery 10283