The LEGO Group announced that on November 1, you’ll be able to buy a Women of NASA LEGO set.
The idea was first pitched to the company by science editor and writer Maia Weinstock.
“As a science editor and writer, with a strong personal interest for space exploration as well as the history of women in science and engineering, Maia Weinstock’s Women of NASA project was a way for her to celebrate accomplished women in STEM professions,” stated LEGO’s press release on the launch.
According to a release, Nancy Grace Roman, Margaret Hamilton, Sally Ride and Mae Jemison will be the four women featured in the LEGO set.
Roman is an astronomer and one of the first female executives at NASA, Hamilton is a computer scientist that developed the flight software for the Apollo space program, Ride was a physicist that became the first woman in space in 1983, and Jemison is an engineer and the first African American woman to travel in space.
“In all realms of science, engineering, and technology, pioneering women have historically been underappreciated for their often groundbreaking work. We have also seen that when girls and women are given more encouragement in the STEM fields, they become more likely to pursue careers in these areas. With this project, I wanted to spotlight a fantastic group of women who have made seminal contributions to NASA history. My dream would be to know that the first human on Mars — or an engineer or computer scientist who helped her get there — played with the LEGO Women of NASA as a child and was inspired to pursue a STEM career as a result,” stated Weinstock in a release.
The following is the contents of the set:
Nancy Grace Roman’s build features a posable Hubble Space Telescope with authentic details and a projected image of a planetary nebula.
Margaret Hamilton’s build features a stack of book elements, representing the books of listings of Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) onboard flight software source code.
Sally Ride and Mae Jemison’s build features a launchpad and Space Shuttle Challenger with three removable rocket stages.
LEGO stores will begin stocking the set on November 1. What’s Up Prince William called to check with the Potomac Mills Mall LEGO location to see when the set would be available, but they were unsure of the exact date they’d have it in stock.
