Five incredible women who made memorable contributions to NASA are one step closer to being immortalized in Lego thanks to 10,000 online supporters.
Titled Women of NASA, the fan-proposed set appeared on the Lego Ideas website in July, and on Tuesday it reached the needed number of supporters to be reviewed by the company as a potential set.
Women of NASA highlights computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, mathematician Katherine Johnson, first American woman astronaut in space Sally Ride, astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, and first African-American woman in space Mae Jemison, all of whom will become minifigures if the set is created. In addition, the Lego Ideas proposal explains it would include a desktop frame to display the figures with their names and vignettes “depicting: a famous photo of the reams of code that landed astronauts on the moon in 1969; instruments used to calculate and verify trajectories for the Mercury and Apollo missions; a microscale Hubble Space Telescope and display; and a mini space shuttle, complete with external tank and solid rocket boosters.”
The set was proposed by deputy editor of MIT News Maia Weinstock, who wants the set to provide “an educational building experience to help young ones and adults alike learn about the history of women in STEM.” Now that the set has reached 10,000 supporters it will go to Lego to be reviewed during its second 2016 review period starting in September. During that process, Lego will decide whether or not to actually create the set to sell.
Weinstock thanked her supporters on the Lego Ideas website, stating that they should know the fate of Women of NASA by January. If the set is made, hopefully it will be one small step for Lego, one giant leap for more people recognizing women in the space program and in STEM everywhere.
H/T Space.com