LEGO 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery: Everything You Need to Know

LEGO today unveils the set 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery, a large box of 2354 pieces designed in partnership with NASA which makes it possible to assemble the Discovery orbiter and the Hubble space telescope put into orbit during the STS-31 mission launched on April 24, 1990. Discovery has been retired since 2011, the orbiter is now on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

LEGO had the choice between the five variants of the shuttle used for the 135 missions of the Space Shuttle Program from 1981 to 2011: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor, and some rumors that circulated on social networks at the beginning of the year evoked Columbia in this box. LEGO obviously does not market an orbiter that disintegrated on its return to the atmosphere and focuses on an event that also marked the history of the conquest of space, but in a less tragic way.

This exhibition product which ignores the rest of the elements of the shuttle, the tank and the two lateral thrusters, offers some refinements that should delight fans of the space conquest with the possibility of inserting Hubble in the hold of the l orbiter, to stage the extraction of the thing via the remote manipulator arm and to store the two elements side by side on a shelf, all embellished with relatively elegant supports and two presentation plates highlighting some facts.

The landing gears are retractable, the extractable cockpit well integrates the crew seats with a realistic layout, the balance between visible tenons and smooth surfaces is fairly homogeneous and the finish of the tanks is very correct. There are three barrels at the rear at the level of the reactors, I am not a big fan of this solution, but we will do with it. Dimensions of the object: 55 cm long, 34 cm wide and 21 cm high.

To install Hubble in the hold, it will first be necessary to remove the two solar panels in the deployed version and replace them with the extensions supplied which embody the "rolled" panels visible on one of the official visuals.

Big handful of stickers on the program with enough to dress the outside of the orbiter and above all a whole layer of shiny stickers which reproduce the cooling panels installed on the interior surface of the two cargo bay doors. The Hubble telescope is covered with elements in metallic Silver and the two solar panels are flexible pad-printed parts on one side which must be taken great care to prevent them from deforming.

This set will be available on the official online store from April 1, 2021 at the public price of € 179.99. Members of the VIP program will also be able to afford a reproduction of the Ulysses space probe launched by the same orbiter in October 1990. This bonus will not be offered, it will be necessary to sacrifice 1800 VIP points to obtain the code to enter in the basket during the checkout. 'an order, i.e. the equivalent of around € 12 reduction on a future purchase.

LEGO 10283 NASA SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

(The link to the shop redirects to the version of the official shop for your country of connection)