The Apollo programme is without a doubt one of man kinds most spectacular achievements to date and is still marvelled at by people across the world. Although the final Apollo Saturn V launched in 1972, its legacy lives on at places such as Space Center Houston's Rocket Park, where visitors, ever since 1977, have been able to get a much closer look at the astounding 110 meter tall Saturn V rocket and its intricate engineering that powered grandiose dreams of space exploration.
Fast forward to 2017, where we had the pleasure to launch the LEGO NASA Apollo Saturn V set designed by LEGO Ideas members Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche, and formally brought to life as a LEGO product by LEGO Designers Carl Merriam, Mike Psiaki and Graphic Designer Austin Carlson. Standing at 1 meter in height, it is the tallest LEGO Ideas set ever as well as one of the tallest LEGO sets to ever have been produced. Quite an engineering accomplishment in LEGO terms.
But how does the LEGO set compare to the real deal? Well, the curious minds at collectSPACE.com and Ars Technica took it upon themselves to find out, as they took their LEGO Apollo Saturn V on a tour of Rocket Park to meet it's older and considerably bigger sibling! Check out their photos below that show the true scale of this iconic vehicle!
collectSPACE's Robert Pearlman and Ars Technica's Eric Berger, in collaboration with Space.com, even went a step further and live-built their Apollo Saturn V set in front of a full-scale mockup of the moon rocket's upper stage at Space Center Houston. You can read the write up of their experience here and watch their build as a timelapse on YouTube.
All photos are courtesy of collectSPACE.com. The photos were taken during a public tour of Rocket Park at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas, as operated by Space Center Houston
By
hasanjensen