The details behind the LEGO Project Hail Mary space mission
The LEGO Project Hail Mary set has been sent to space, and the head of the project has detailed what went into the stunt, as well as the build’s fate.
11389 Project Hail Mary became part of a limited club of LEGO sets and minifigure last week by taking a trip to the edge of space in a partnership with Sony Pictures UK and Sent Into Space. You can catch up on the stunt by watching the in-depth video, but more details from behind the scenes have now come to light.
Speaking to Dr Chris Rose, Head of Projects at Sent Into Space, Sean Moncrieff of the Moncrieff podcast was able to find out more about the mission and how they adapted their set-up to the LEGO model.
“When we approach any project, there’s a tremendous amount of variables that go with that,” shared Dr Chris Rose. “We’re gonna be sending that product, that service provision or that demonstration of something, whatever it is, into very harsh environmental extremes -70°C, zero pressure, aggressive reentry speeds, and the atmosphere. So we have to spend a lot of time thinking about pretty mundane items, and how they will react in this very unusual environment.”
The considerations for sending 11389 Project Hail Mary included making sure that LEGO elements would not crack under extremely low temperatures. Thankfully, LEGO pieces are designed to be strong.
“In our line of work, we do get a lot of confounding variables we need to consider,” Chris continued. “One thing I would imagine for a Lego figurine is how it is going to react to that kind of temperature.
“It’s an important consideration for a lot of what we do because the temperatures, whilst it might not compromise the bricks themselves, if these bricks are sort of encapsulated and, like a smartphone would have capacitors inside, are closed off vessels. These kinds of things don’t like being in the vacuum of space; they tend to explode and fail. But Lego bricks, let’s face it, they’re designed to last for generations.”
Once it was determined that a LEGO model could be sent into space, they just needed to figure out how they would be able to keep it secure while prominently displaying it for the marketing material. It meant adapting the usual set-up accordingly to ensure that nothing flew off and descended to Earth faster than expected.
“Kids play with them, grown-ups play with them,” said Chris. “So there wasn’t too much that could go wrong with the functionality of the item itself. However, if we were to say have some sort of structural reinforcement here to make sure that no components come off, which of course was very important to this client, we need to make sure that that doesn’t become brittle or fail due to the very cold temperatures of space.
“So we need to make sure that we restrain everything in a way that makes sure this is safe and reliable, but we don’t want to overwhelm the feature set up. We want to show that floating in space in all its glory. All we needed to do was give it a helping hand in terms of its stability, make sure it was properly affixed to the base so that when this begins its return journey to Earth, and we get those very arresting forces of the parachute deployment system coming into effect, it doesn’t whip it and then a small piece breaks off.”
As you can see by watching the video, the LEGO Project Hail Mary mission was a great success, and the fate of this copy of the set has also been revealed.
“It’s actually still in my possession,” Chris noted. “I’m looking at it right now, and I would expect that the client might want this back or perhaps Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directors, might want to get their hands on it. I’m king of waiting for the phone to call to let me know what to do with that item. But until then, I can look at it every day and enjoy that project.”
Whether the model remains with Chris, is sent back to Sony Pictures UK, or ends up in the hands of the directing duo, suffice it to say that 11389 Project Hail Mary survived the descent. 11389 Project Hail Mary is available now for £99.99 / $99.99 / €109.99 with 830 pieces. You can read our review of the recent release by clicking here.
Featured image: Guinness World Records
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