LEGO Creator Expert NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (10283)

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While capturing the external shape was undoubtedly important, the most significant reason for developing these unique elements becomes apparent inside. These doors are remarkably thin which maximises the internal area, thereby allowing the Hubble Space Telescope to slot inside the payload bay! This satellite nestles inside perfectly, slotting between tabs which project from the walls and the floor. You don’t need to be a super NASA fan to know that this is one cool spaceship – every time you look at your completed Lego NASA Space Shuttle Discovery you’ll be filled with a sense of pride, plus it makes a great talking point. It’ll look good anywhere, once you find the space for it that is – at around 22 inches long, it’s quite a sizable model! What other Lego space collection kits can you buy? I also asked a coworker, who used to be an Airedale in the US Navy, about this. He didn’t know why they did this, but confirmed that he’d seen it, and also mentioned that sometimes you could see a layer of dark red under the green. That would further suggest this acts as an anti-corrosion coating, if it’s the same shade of red. He also mentioned that the green is a flat paint, so not very reflective, which might also be a consideration.

We’ve been to known to criticise the LEGO Group for how some of its products are priced, and what you actually get for that price (did someone say VIDIYO?), but to give credit where its due, the value here speaks for itself. Opening the aperture door uncovers the secondary mirror inside. This mirror should be fixed substantially deeper within the housing, although that space is instead required to strengthen the internal structure. The decorated curved slope on the exterior is perfectly accurate though, featuring both NASA and ESA branding to reflect the international development of this famous scientific instrument. While the elevon control mechanism and opening payload doors are enjoyable, my favourite function is undoubtedly the deployable landing gear under the orbiter. These are released by pushing the body flap forwards and feature springs, assuring that all three landing gear struts activate together. Ideally, they would be located further forward for absolute realism, although balancing the model presumably required some compromises. Celebrate the wonders of space with the LEGO NASA Space Shuttle Discovery model building set for adults. This engaging challenge lets you build the Space Shuttle Discovery ship and the Hubble Space Telescope, launched on NASA’s STS-31 mission in 1990.

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Just over 30 years on from the original mission, The LEGO Group wanted to delve deeper into people’s passions for space to really uncover what they think of the great beyond. Including, what the next 30 years could hold, the future of space travel and if there really is life on mars. The elegant delta wings incorporate dark bluish grey 2x2 curved slopes, depicting the thermal protection tiles which were vitally important on the original Space Shuttle orbiter. Their curving shape looks absolutely brilliant and I think dark bluish grey was the correct colour choice. This model displays Discovery's markings from mission STS-31 during 1999, hence the NASA logo deviates from its modern counterpart. Gah! I meant C-141b. So, I was right. He said that the C-141a and C141b had a particularly bad problem with electrolysis between the rivets and the material they were holding together. When he first started working in them, the exteriors were largely paint-free (probably because it takes a few hundred pounds of paint for each plane). Then they started painting just the biggest problem areas, and eventually the entire exterior. The paint helps prevent corrosion, but it costs weight off your max payload, I think ice builds up on painted surfaces more than the bare metal, and you can’t inspect the metal surfaces for fatigue without stripping the entire paint job off. On interior surfaces, you can’t do that level of inspection without stripping all the rivets and disassembling the entire plane. But, metal fatigue will show up on both sides of a piece of sheet metal, so a full exterior inspection basically eliminates the need to see every interior surface anyways.

This set has the motherload of drum-lacquer metallic silver elements, since Hubble’s exterior is almost entirely covered in them, lending it a beautiful metallic sheen that’s not possible with silver plastic such as LEGO’s flat silver color. Only the 2×2 macaroni tile is new in this color, but all together you’ll get 109 pieces in metallic silver, including a whopping 62 of the 2×2 curved slopes. A couple of these bits are used on the shuttle, but nearly all of them are on Hubble. Alternatively, you can rotate the stand and display the model with its nose pitched downwards because the stand remains sufficiently tall. This configuration seems awkward on flat surfaces but could prove effective when displaying the orbiter on higher shelves, showing the bodywork more clearly. However, this vehicle cannot be displayed sideways, as though banking. Separating the plaque from the display stand is certainly unusual, although this stand is rather short so limited space is available beneath the Space Shuttle. Of course, modifying the display stand to accommodate the plaque would be easy, if you prefer to keep them together. Accurate information about the Space Shuttle Discovery is provided on the plaque, fortunately, but I think showing the mission specification was unnecessary. In the original plan, they were expecting to launch two missions per month, made affordable by recovery and reuse of everything but the orange external tank (which wasn’t much more than a hollow shell with some valves and mounting points). With a fleet of four orbiters (Endeavour was only built to replace Challenger, and Enterprise was not built to be space-worthy) that means a 2-month turnaround for each craft, and six launches per year. At some point, under that schedule, they would have had to mothball older orbiters and build new ones to replace them. As with new year models of cars, upgrades to the design could be rolled out each time, and the service life of the STS program could have been extended indefinitely. Admittedly, the combination of smooth and studded surfaces does appear odd, although I am impressed with how different elements are combined. Additionally, this design ensures correct colours around the nose, including at the tip where the dark bluish grey section looks fantastic. The reaction control thrusters seem relatively realistic too, although two more thrusters should be fixed on top.LEGO has produced various renditions of the Space Shuttle and 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery appears exceedingly accurate. The model measures 54cm in length which is larger than previous designs and has enabled the designer to create shapes which have proven very challenging in the past, notably including the distinctive nose. Furthermore, the intricate details demonstrate outstanding fidelity to the original spacecraft. The first thing I have to say is that this model looks pretty darn great. It’s by far the most accurate LEGO Space Shuttle yet, and the combination of the two models together is enough to make any space fan feel a mighty need to have this in their collection. The Hubble Space Telescope is an amazing co-star in Lego's new NASA Space Shuttle Discovery set. (Image credit: Elizabeth Howell/Space.com)