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Blue Origin spaceships inspire Lego toy designs

Blue Moon Lego lander
The Lego version of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander would include the ascent element for a crewed mission. (Lego Ideas Image / Valerie Roche / Matthew Nolan)New

Which will go into commercial service first: Blue Origin’s orbital-class New Glenn rocket and Blue Moon lunar lander, or the Lego toy versions?

The answer will depend not only on how much progress Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ space venture makes on the real things, but on how many people support the Lego Ideas project as well.

The 2,670-piece set would include a 1:110 scale version of the two-stage New Glenn and the human-capable variant of the Blue Moon lander, plus extras including a launch tower, rovers and a satellite. The rocket would be about 40 inches high.

The whole assemblage is designed by Valerie Roche and Matthew Nolan, the team behind the 1,969-piece Saturn V Lego rocket (which is also built to 1:110 scale), plus proposed SpaceX Falcon/Dragon and SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy rocket sets.

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Lego launches lunar lander, astronauts included

Lego lunar lander
Lego’s minifigure recreation of the Apollo 11 lunar landing comes with a moonscape. (Lego Photo)

That’s one giant heap of Lego bricks: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Lego Group is unveiling a 1,087-piece building set that recreates the mission’s Eagle lunar module.

The Lego Creator Expert NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander model, developed in cooperation with NASA, consists of an ascent stage with a detailed interior, plus a descent stage with a ladder and hatches that open.

Two astronaut minifigures are included in the kit, along with a depiction of the lunar surface complete with a crater, moon footprints and a U.S. flag.

In a news release, the company said the $99.99 set will be exclusively available at Lego stores and via the Lego Shop website beginning June 1.

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Sally Ride honored 35 years after space milestone

Lego minifigs at Blue Origin
“Women of NASA” Lego toys are arrayed in front of Blue Origin’s New Shepard crew capsule. (Blue Origin)

The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, is the subject of serious and playful memorials today, 35 years after her historic flight and nearly six years after her death.

A U.S. postage stamp bearing Ride’s visage went on sale last month, and last year, a Sally Ride minifigure was released as part of a “Women of NASA” set of Lego toys.

Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon millionaire Jeff Bezos, marked today’s anniversary by showing off a Lego set that flew to space and back on the company’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship.

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Barbie dolls honor NASA pioneer and other women

Katherine Johnson as Barbie doll
NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson is immortalized as a Barbie doll. (Mattel Photo)

“Hidden Figures” mathematician Katherine Johnson may have missed out on the Lego toy treatment, but she and 16 other women are getting the Barbie doll treatment just in time for International Women’s Day.

Today Mattel announced that it’s rolling out 17 new Barbie dolls — including 14 one-of-a-kind dolls that are styled after modern-day role models for its “Shero” program (a mashup of “she” and “hero”), plus a new line called “Inspiring Women” that pays tribute to historical role models.

Johnson, a 99-year-old black mathematician whose work at NASA was featured in the hit movie “Hidden Figures,” is included as one of the Inspiring Women, along with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and pioneering American aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

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‘Aspiring astronaut’ doll lands in the spotlight

Luciana Vega doll
A doll named Luciana Vega is unveiled as the American Girl of the Year for 2018 on ABC’s “Good Morning America” as Space Camp girls look on. (ABC / GMA)

American Girl put a Space Age spin on the centuries-old tradition of dress-up dolls today by unveiling a spacesuit-clad character named Luciana Vega as its “Girl of the Year” for 2018.

The big reveal came on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” when the 18-inch-high doll was lowered to the set amid a throng of girls wearing Space Camp uniforms. Each of them got a doll.

American Girl, which has been putting out dolls and accessories with elaborate stories behind them since 1986, says Vega’s character is an 11-year-old “aspiring astronaut who dreams of being the first person to go to Mars.”

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Lego shows off ‘Women of NASA’ toy set

'Women of NASA' Lego set
Lego’s “Women of NASA” set of minifigures includes Margaret Hamilton, Nancy Grace Roman, Sally Ride and Mae Jemison — but not Katherine Johnson, who was featured in “Hidden Figures.” (Lego Photo)

Seven and a half months after its selection, Lego unveiled a set of minifigures celebrating NASA women researchers and explorers, due to go on sale just in time for the holiday season.

The toy set follows up on a suggestion from science writer Maia Weinstock, but one of Weinstock’s nominees wasn’t included: NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, whose life story figures prominently in the Oscar-nominated movie “Hidden Figures” and the book on which it was based.

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Toys that listen spark privacy concerns

Hello Barbie
Hello Barbie is designed to take part in conversations with kids. (Mattel Photo)

The kids who play with internet-connected toys such as Hello Barbie and CogniToys Dino may not fully realize their voices are being recorded – but when they find out, University of Washington researchers say even the little ones understand the privacy concerns.

“That’s pretty scary,” one child was quoted as saying.

The researchers explored the attitudes of kids and parents toward Wi-Fi-enabled toys in a study presented today at the CHI 2017 computer conference in Denver.

The study found strong support for parental controls, leading the researchers to recommend taking such controls to the next level. They suggested that toys should be designed to delete their recordings after a week, or that parents should be given the ability to delete conversations permanently.

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Lego toys immortalize women of NASA

Women of NASA
http://www.geekwire.com/2017/hidden-figures-minifigures-women-nasa-lego/

It’s all systems go for a new set of Lego minifigures celebrating women researchers at NASA, including the central figure in the acclaimed movie “Hidden Figures.”

NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who worked out trajectories for the Mercury and Apollo programs, is among the five women portrayed in the set. At the age of 98, Johnson has gotten a renewed burst of Hollywood fame (including an appearance at this week’s Oscars) thanks to her part in the real-life story behind “Hidden Figures.”

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