We just got our first look at Lego's rad Women of NASA set
Next month, you'll be able to buy a little bit of space history in Lego form.
Starting on Nov. 1, space fans of all ages will be able to buy Lego's Women of NASA set featuring four essential women who made space science history.
The new set plays homage to astronauts Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to fly to orbit.
The $24.99 set also features computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, who helped write the software that eventually allowed the Apollo astronauts to land on the moon, and Nancy Grace Roman, who helped make the Hubble Space Telescope a reality.
The four figures also come complete with three Lego builds.
"Role-play space exploration from planning to moon landing, beginning with the iconic scene from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969 of Hamilton with software that she and her team programmed," Lego said in a statement.
"Build the posable Hubble Space Telescope and launch a LEGO version of the Space Shuttle Challenger with 3 removable rocket stages."
The set is sure to make space nerds of all ages happy.
Women of NASA was originally designed by Maia Weinstock and submitted as part of Lego's Ideas program, which allows fans to develop their own ideas for what may become the next sets for the company.
Weinstock's initial idea for the set also included Katherine Johnson, the space scientist instrumental in bringing the first Americans to orbit, but the company wasn't able to include her in the final set.
“In order for us to move forward with a partner we need to obtain approval from all key people, which was not possible in this case," a Lego spokesperson said. "We naturally fully respect this decision.”
Weinstock wanted to create this set to give the women of NASA their proper due.
"Women have played critical roles throughout the history of the U.S. space program ..." Weinstock wrote in a description of the set.
"Yet in many cases, their contributions are unknown or under-appreciated — especially as women have historically struggled to gain acceptance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics."
Now at least, these barrier-breaking women will get some of the recognition they deserve in Lego form.
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
