Notwithstanding the aforementioned scale issues across the current crop of LEGO NASA space sets, this is simply a must-have for any fans of LEGO or NASA, or both. The designers have totally nailed the form and functions (within reason, of course) of a truly iconic machine which was - and is - so much more than the sum of its parts.
Of course, you’d then want to build the launch tower and platform, the crawler transporter, the hangar, the support vehicles… Given more time I would have loved to build the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. On top of all that there’s a host of potential moc opportunities. Given the angle at which the model sits on its stand, up/down pitch control might have been more appropriate but yes, I’m splitting hairs here. They can only move in opposite directions like ailerons, which would affect the shuttle’s roll.
#Lego 10283 nasa space shuttle discovery full#
The official press release describes them as elevons and while twisting the booster does partially mimic the actual machine, the full range of motion isn’t there. It has elevons, which combine the pitch and roll effects of two separate components found on traditional aircraft. Rocket nerds will be quick to point out, however, that as a flying wing the real shuttle doesn’t have ailerons. The LEGO version doesn't produce quite as much thrust as the 418,000lbf output by the real things, but they are nicely detailed and there’s a neat little linkage which controls the ailerons via twisting the top booster. These monsters are something of a microcosm of the entire program: bonkers tech dreamt up in the ‘60s, built in the ‘70s and improved upon incrementally to the point where they are still being considered for use in the next generation of space flights. The next steps focus on building up the huge RS-25 rocket engines.
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