LEGO has announced it will release a ‘women of NASA‘ set featuring four mini figurines of pioneering women from the space agency: the astronauts sally ride and mae jemison, the astronomer nancy grace roman, and the computer scientist margaret hamilton. the set was inspired by a member of its fan-sourced creation platform, LEGO Ideas, which got more than 10,000 votes, triggering an automatic review by LEGO staff, which decided to manufacture and sell it.
LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females 
the set features four pioneering women from the space agency, all images © LEGO ideas

 

the set was originally proposed by deputy editor of MIT news, maia weinstock, on the LEGO ideas platform last year, where members create and vote on new sets. when LEGO picks an idea from the site, submitters get a 1% cut of sales and licensing revenue. in her original pitch, weinstock had suggested NASA‘s katherine johnson was included but due to licensing issues LEGO was unable to gain approval.

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
each figure comes with a backdrop specific to their work at NASA

 

the designers behind the set are LEGO’s gemma anderson and marie sertillanges caturing specific details of the space icons, including how sally ride’s name tag says just ‘sally’, a request she actually made in real life. each figurine will also come with a backdrop related to their specialist field and work at NASA, including the space shuttle challenger and the hubble space telescope.

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
the women of nasa set will be on available on november 1st

 

‘great for role playing space exploration missions,’ LEGO said in a press release announcing the set. ‘explore the professions of some of the groundbreaking women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with the LEGO ideas women of NASA set.’

 

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
the figurines capture great likeness, such as sally ride’s name badge reading just ‘sally’

 

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
astronaut, physician, and engineer, mae jemison, wears a 1990s space shuttle flight suit

 

 

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
the range includes astronomer and teacher nancy grace roman, 92

 

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
computer scientist margaret hamilton 

 

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
the space shuttle included in the fange splits into separate pieces

 

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
each figurine comes with its own base and additional extras

 

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
hamilton led the development of flight software for the apollo moon missions

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
known as the ‘mother of hubble’, roman helped get the space-telescope mission off the ground

LEGO's women of NASA range honours pioneering females
hamilton with LEGO ideas user, maia weinstock, and LEGO designer tara wike