Canadarm

CANADARM

For over 30 years NASA's space shuttle fleet flew with a very specialized piece of equipment, the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS) or as it was better known to the world, the Canadarm.

First launched on the Columbia as part of the second ever shuttle flight, the Candarm continued its service to the fleet right until the end of the shuttle program in 2011.

Build by a consortium of Canadian aerospace companies the arm released and captured satellites for repair, positioned astronauts and moved cargo.  It's 410 Kg, 15m long arm was highly versatile and featured three key joints which allowed it greater freedom of movement than a human arm.

The Lego ideas community has always been a big supporter of historic space projects, and I have seen the Canadarm included in microscale on numerous ISS and shuttle builds, but given it's importance in the shuttle program and its legacy of success I felt it deserved it's own model.

This build features the Canadarm on a heavy lego base (to offset the weight of the arm) and has the ability for a full range of motion in the three key joints.  

The MOC is built from 1,835 bricks (including the base) and includes a UCS style nameplate flanked by two brave astronauts and Canadian Flags for interest (Queue up, Oh Canada please...)