See the New Lego Set That Has Disability Advocates Cheering politics arts nation world economy science health education teachersThe RundownTV SCHEDULE New Lego set to celebrate NASA’s women pioneers Five women pioneers of NASA are becoming Lego characters. Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, mathematician Katherine Johnson, astronomer Nancy Grace Roman and astronauts Sally Ride, the first woman in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, are part of a new line Lego announced Tuesday. The idea came from Maia Weinstock, deputy editor of MIT News, as a part of a Lego Ideas competition. “Maia Weinstock’s Women of NASA project was a way for her to celebrate accomplished women in the STEM professions. In particular, those who’ve made a big impact through their work at NASA,” said Lego Ideas spokeswoman Lise Dydensborg in a video. — Maia Weinstock (@20tauri) February 28, 2017 The Lego line, which was created in conjunction with NASA, includes a display of the five famed women and several vignettes of NASA technology and history, including the codes and calculating instruments used in space missions and a mini space shuttle.
The official Twitter account for NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope tweeted that the toy set will be available at the end of this year or start of 2018. Final design and prices are still under consideration. Weinstock said the Lego’s new Women of NASA set “provides an educational building experience to help young ones and adults alike learn about the history of women in STEM.” NASA women have been in the spotlight in recent months thanks to the Oscar-nominated film “Hidden Figures.” During the Academy Awards, Johnson, who is portrayed in both the movie and the Lego set, appeared on stage with the stars of “Hidden Figures.” Actor Taraji P. Henson, who portrayed Johnson in the film, praised her as “a true NASA and American hero.” Lego came under fire in 2014 after seven-year-old Charlotte Benjamin criticized the company’s lack of professional female figures in a widely-shared letter. Lego responded with an all-female set that included a paleontologist, astronomer and chemist, and have now added to their female cast with the “Women in NASA” set.
“I applaud Lego for their hidden figures,” said Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, a non-profit aimed at bringing women into technology. “I think efforts, like by Lego, that are trying to change this and to show a different cultural aspect for young girls is really important.” Mattel’s Barbie faced similar criticism for the 2014 book, “Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer,” which depicted the toy as a poor engineer and coder who sought the help of her male friends to correct her mistakes. Following the public response, Mattel created a Barbie game developer. “Toys play a pivotal role, especially early on in what girls think they can be,” Saujani said. “You can’t be what you cannot see, and if you’re not comfortable tinkering and taking things apart and building things, you’re not going to go into those careers. READ MORE: Brick by brick, Lego diversifies its toys with a minifigure in a wheelchairTweet Art of the Brick Bump LEGOs OMSI OMSI after dark
Click here to see our updated list for 2017 We include in our list of Legos for adults the most complicated Lego sets, along with classy sets that will give you a nice desk piece when complete. ArchitectureTechnic1000+ Pieces2000+ PiecesUnder $100Under $200 9SEE IT NOW 1SEE IT NOW 2SEE IT NOW Price, Info, & Pics Price, Info, & PicsLego announced Tuesday that a new set will feature some of the pioneering women who played vital but sometimes under-appreciated roles in the U.S. space program. The figures have been commissioned under the toy maker's Lego Ideas series that allows fans to propose concepts for new sets. The "Women of NASA" set was designed by science writer Maia Weinstock, the deputy editor of MIT News, and pitched with the headline "Ladies rock outer space!" Among Weinstock's figures are Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Nancy Grace Roman, who's known as the "mother" of the Hubble Space Telescope; and Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space.
Also included are Margaret Hamilton and Katherine Johnson, whose work helped put the first people on the moon. Weinstock said the set celebrates the NASA scientists' careers and "provides an educational building experience to help young ones and adults alike learn about the history of women" in science and technology. Lego has been criticized in the past for a lack of professional female characters, most famously in a letter from a 7-year-old fan in 2014. "All the girls did was sit at home, go to bed and shop, and they had no jobs but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people," Charlotte Benjamin wrote. In response, Lego released a limited edition "Research Institute" set designed by geophysicist Ellen Kooijman that featured three female scientists -- a paleontologist, an astronomer and a chemist. Lego said it's still figuring out the final design and price for the "Women of NASA" set. It's planning to release it late this year or early in 2018. But it's not clear if it will be a limited edition set like the "Research Institute."
“Are these for you?,” asks the woman at the checkout counter of a New York City toy store as I buy eight packs of “The LEGO Movie” characters. Now, my first instinct is to lie. I come close to telling her that they are for my son –- I’m old enough to have one of those, even though I don’t. For whatever reason, I have a hard time lying to any sort of authority figure, even a toy store cashier. So, instead, I just decide to ignore the question ... which only results in an uncomfortably long pause while absolutely nothing progresses with my attempted transaction. “Yes,” I finally answer. “We have a display,” I add, thinking that if I use the word “we,” effectively adding another person to this scenario, it won’t be as embarrassing. This tactic didn’t work. (There really is a “we,” but my skittish use of the word at this moment cemented this woman’s opinion that I live alone and that I will forever live alone.) “Okay, enjoy,” she says as I sulk out onto 3rd Avenue, looking for the nearest bar.
You see, I’ve become addicted to LEGO. What’s odd is that I wasn’t really that into LEGO when I was a child. Sure, I had a few sets -– like most people, I had the generic spaceman set that Charlie Day skewers in "The LEGO Movie" -– but why would I want LEGO when I had G.I. Joe, Transformers and Master of the Universe to play with already? LEGO didn’t really fit into my young individual canon. When you visit New York City, there are a million things to do. When you live in New York City (for me, 10 years now), there are still a million things to do, but you stop doing them. Your social life outside of your tiny apartment basically boils down to one of three categories: eating, drinking, and exercising. (There are groups that you can join that can cover all three of these in one outing.) After a while, even just hanging out in bars gets old. (There is a law in New York City that dictates that if you write for a living, you must spend all of your free time at your local Irish pub.
I have never broken this law.) Around six months ago, almost as a lark, my girlfriend and I purchased a small “Star Wars” LEGO set at our local Duane Reade -- mostly because my girlfriend thought the Yoda looked cute. So, along with our milk, cereal and toothpaste, we bought a LEGO set that I kind of assumed we would never build. The next night, we were at our local pub and, as yet another lark, we brought that LEGO set with us. And while we sipped pints of beer, we built that “Star Wars” LEGO set –- and it was a wonderful experience. It was almost as if there was something to show at the end of the night for my time wasted at a bar. So, I bought another. For whatever reason, it was cathartic. With the smaller sets, for the most part, people left us alone. It really wasn’t that much dorkier than playing old board games in public, which happens all the time around here for whatever reason. (Full disclosure: I’ve participated in that, too.) Things took a drastic change when we decided to build an entire U.S.S. Enterprise at a bar.
(Which isn’t even LEGO, but instead the Hasbro version, Kre-O. Perhaps this is when I should have realized I had a problem –- when I started building off-brand versions to get my fix.) Now, this particular bar we were at that night is what I would consider a personal haunt, but, on this night, a large group of well-dressed non-regulars flooded in –- all of a sudden, I’m the weirdo building a U.S.S. Enterprise surrounded by people in evening wear. “Hey, buddy, mind if I move your spaceship toy so my wife can get closer to the bar?” a handsome man asked me. “Um, it’s the Enterprise,” I started to respond, before thinking better of it and saying, “Okay,” then asking for my check and attempting to disappear into the night. It’s weird –- LEGO seems so normal, until it isn’t. Yes, this has become a problem. And, yet, incidents like this don’t seem to stop me. A month ago, I didn’t know there was something called The LEGO Store. As I write this, I’ve visited that store four times in the last two weeks.
For Christmas, my girlfriend bought me the “Back to the Future” LEGO DeLorean, which we decided to build at a local Mexican restaurant while drinking margaritas. Halfway through, an older gentleman yelled at us from across the bar, “What is that?” After explaining, it was apparent this old salt had no idea what “Back to the Future” was, so any chance he’d leave us alone because we were building something retro “cool” was gone. And, yes, in-between stories about his ex-wife, he had an occasional pithy comment for us. As we left, he said, “Goodbye, LEGO people.” Ten minutes later, walking down First Avenue, I finally thought of my George Cosatanza “jerk store”-type comeback, but my girlfriend, wisely, wouldn’t let me go back. We would return to that restaurant a week later to build a LEGO Sarlaac Pit. I emailed my friend, a fellow writer who regularly contributes to Grantland, Matt Patches, about all of this. He put more thought into his answer than I ever thought he would, “There's creative ambition and then there's Howard Hughes behavior.
I know you as a well-meaning LEGO builder, the kind of adult who takes joy in sipping a beer while piecing together a spaceship step by step. But maybe the ‘Everything Is Awesome’ mantra unlocked a darker side to that passion. Weeks after catching 'The LEGO Movie' ... at this point, I don't know if you build LEGOs or live them.” He’s right about “The LEGO Movie.” Its mainstream success and its stranglehold on the box-office has told me Hey, this is okay. In the past month, I have purchased and built a Tie-Fighter, a Millennium Falcon and, the biggest financial investment, a "Red Five" X-Wing, which is about half the length of our coffee table. I am eying the LEGO Death Star. I honestly have nowhere to put it, but my bartender, of all people, is trying to talk me into buying it. He's an enabler in a way that I didn't think was possible. (Yes, Abe Lincoln can pilot the Millennium Falcon.) I should add: Writing this piece just makes me want to go buy more LEGO. I’m basically a bar-hopping version of the Will Ferrell character from “The LEGO Movie,” only without any offspring to teach me a valuable lesson.