Following cameos in 2003’s 7470 Space Shuttle Discovery-STS-31, 21312 Women of NASA from 2017 and 2021’s 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery, the Hubble Space Telescope is finally getting a standalone set, and 11382 Hubble Space Telescope has been well worth the wait.
The LEGO Group’s partnership with NASA has resulted in several space models exploring various facets of the history of space exploration. The 1,252-piece 11382 Hubble Space Telescope is just the latest in a long line of builds, but it’s one of the few to be truly minifigure-scale. Much like 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, 11382 Hubble Space Telescope recreates a scene of an astronaut performing repairs on the telescope during a spacewalk.
This is likely based on the 32 astronauts who have repaired the telescope over six missions. The included astronaut minifigure is based on a more modern version of the white spacesuit, featuring several new and exclusive prints that make it that much more appealing.
The minifigure acts as a way to properly convey the scale of the Hubble Space Telescope, posed grabbing on to the exterior of the device so that you can step into their shoes and imagine just how massive the telescope is up there. Another minifigure in 11382 Hubble Space Telescope would have helped round out the contents, and there is an easy contender for a second.
That would be NASA’s first chief astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman. She already has a minifigure in 21312 Women of NASA and is known as the 'Mother of Hubble' for her role in planning the telescope. While the one minifigure is great, it’s a clear missed opportunity when her last minifigure was released nearly a decade ago.
As far as the build in 11382 Hubble Space Telescope goes, it is just as detailed as you would expect from a set for £119.99 / $139.99 / €129.99. The exterior may look decidedly too grey, but it’s accurate to the telescope's design, with some greebling and golden touches to round it out. Admittedly, an all-shining silver exterior would have been ideal, but too unrealistic to cover the full outside without drastically driving up the price.
We’d rather have a grey version of the telescope at this size and at this price. Inside the telescope, the LEGO designers have gone to great efforts to ensure that as many of the mechanisms that make Hubble work are featured. The main parts can be examined when the build is complete by removing some panels. However, much of the interior becomes completely hidden by panels that cannot be removed easily. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the sturdy build, achieving a cylindrical shape in LEGO that you don’t need to be afraid of picking up.
11382 Hubble Space Telescope is held aloft by an angled display base, giving you the option to have either end pointing upwards without the risk of it falling over. Integrated into the base are three printed pieces displaying some of the telescope's most iconic shots. These are a real highlight of the experience and call back to the similar piece in 21312 Women of NASA.
As a longtime fan of all things space, I’ve been enamoured with the Hubble Space Telescope for some time and have been eager for it to receive some kind of standalone LEGO release. 11382 Hubble Space Telescope is much larger than I was expecting such a set to be, but the size allows as many details as possible to be captured.
The only major flaw with the set comes from the building experience. Some of the components are fragile to put together and place inside the larger build. You may find yourself putting some aspects of the model together twice or more before they stay in place.
Fellow enthusiasts of space exploration will find a lot to love in 11382 Hubble Space Telescope, and the price is reasonable at £119.99 / $139.99 / €129.99. We can nitpick and wish for a second minifigure of Nancy Grace Roman, but 11382 Hubble Space Telescope doesn’t need anything else to be worthwhile. For the price, the few stickers would have been better as prints. However, none of these stickers are hard to apply.
LEGO 11382 Hubble Space Telescope will be available from August 1, 2026, for £119.99 / $139.99 / €129.99.
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