2024 LEGO Technic NASA collab is the weirdest yet

LEGO Technic teamed up with NASA for three sets in 2024, making its very first foray into a whole new area of LEGO sets.

LEGO Technic 42178 Surface Space Loader LT78, 42180 Mars Crew Exploration Rover, and 42181 VTOL Heavy Cargo Spaceship LT81 are all due for release on January 1, 2024, rounding out the first wave of LEGO Technic 2024 sets. While it’s certainly not the first time that LEGO Technic has journeyed into space, it is the first time that the theme hasn’t been based on real-life machines or objects.

Instead, the LEGO Group designers worked with actual NASA scientists to come up with vehicles that were imaginary yet grounded in science. All three could technically exist but don’t actually have a real-life counterpart, combining the reality that LEGO technic is known for with the creative building that the LEGO Group has at its core.

It marks an interesting path for the theme, opening up far more possibilities for where LEGO Technic could go in the future. Could we see versions of cars that don’t actually exist? Could LEGO Technic explore weird and wonderful building machinery and cranes that haven’t been invented in real life? It’s one way to inject a little bit more variety and creativity into an ever-popular theme and certainly one to keep an eye on.

For now, check out the video below to hear more from the LEGO Technic designers on what it was like to work with NASA, what to expect from the sets, and more. We’ll also have more to come on these sets in an interview with the designers later this week, so make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay abreast of all the latest news and details.

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