The new Lego Hubble Space Telescope set is a standalone desktop model rather than a telescope tucked into a shuttle payload bay. Lego released Icons set 11382 on August 1 for $139.99 in the US through its stores and online shop, according to CollectSPACE. The 1,252-piece kit gives the 1990 observatory a far more imposing shelf presence, along with parts meant to show what is inside the tube.
The finished build measures 15 inches long, 15 inches wide and more than 12.5 inches high with its aperture door open, Lego said in a social-media post. It includes a display stand and an astronaut minifigure. The stand carries a fact plaque and three translucent pieces depicting Hubble observations: the Eagle Nebula, also called the Pillars of Creation, the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Butterfly Nebula.
How big is the Lego Hubble Space Telescope set?
The model works out to roughly 1:35 scale. Hubble itself is 43.5 feet long, or 522 inches; dividing that by the model’s 15-inch length produces a ratio of about 34.8 to one. CollectSPACE and Ars Technica describe this as Lego’s first Hubble model designed in relation to a minifigure, so the included astronaut gives a useful, if not anatomically rigorous, reference point.
That is the point of this release. Lego has made Hubble before, including versions paired with the 2003 Discovery Space Shuttle STS-31 set and the 2021 Icons NASA Space Shuttle Discovery set, plus a smaller display model in the 2017 Women of NASA set honoring astronomer Nancy Grace Roman. Set 11382 puts the telescope first and makes it about twice the size of prior Lego Hubble versions, Ars Technica reported.
What is inside the model?
The aperture door opens to reveal a representation of Hubble’s secondary-mirror assembly. Upper and lower body panels also come off, exposing modeled mirrors and a central baffle. Lego’s instruction book identifies representations of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, Advanced Camera for Surveys and Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. It also calls out three gyroscopes, five guidance sensors, antennas and two solar-array wings.
Those engineering details should be read as Lego’s own fidelity claim, not a technical certification. The designers wrote in the instructions that they worked with NASA and European Space Agency partners on the build. The model is configured to reflect Hubble after its fifth servicing mission in 2009, according to the instruction-book description reported by Ars Technica and CollectSPACE.
Hubble launched aboard space shuttle Discovery and the STS-31 crew deployed it in 1990. The minifigure wears a representation of the extravehicular mobility unit used on servicing missions; CollectSPACE reports that its backpack also bears a logo marking Hubble’s first 35 years, while omitting NASA insignia and mission patches.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
