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IPFS News Link • Space Travel and Exploration

Apollo 11 Lunar Lander Lego set marks 50th anniversary of the first men on the Moon

• https://newatlas.com, Matt Kennedy

Developed in cooperation with NASA, the set comes with mini astronaut figures and a Moon-surface diorama stage complete with craters, footprints, a flag and even a replica of the plaque Armstrong and Aldrin left behind on the surface.

Lego has labelled this set the NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, which, while describing what it did, isn't technically the correct name. These craft were originally designated as Lunar Excursion Modules (LEMs). By the time Apollo 11 came around, the name was simplified to Lunar Modules (LM – but still pronounced as Lem).

This isn't the first lunar landing set from Lego, the company has released a number of sets on this theme including #367 Space Module with Astronauts (1975), #565 Moon landing (1976) and #10029 Lunar Lander (Discovery series) released in 2003. But this upcoming set looks to be the first to specifically mention the Apollo 11 mission and of course, none to date are anywhere as detailed.

Speaking of detail, this latest set (#10266 for the Lego faithful) runs to 1,087 pieces with the module component breaking down into descent and ascent stages. The descent stage features the gold Kapton-foil covered feet and panels – and possibly the world's most famous ladder – while the gray ascent stage has a detailed interior for the mini astronaut figures, representing mission Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin.


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