LEGO hosts ‘UPO’ sighting celebrating children’s fascination with the cosmos

Children’s fascination with the cosmos was celebrated by the LEGO Group last night with the first-ever ‘UPO’ (Unidentified Playing Objects) sighting.

The LEGO Group has been leaning heavily into all things space-related in 2024, with multiple themes heading off-world and even a dedicated CMF launch in the shape of 71046 Series 26 Space. However, it’s not just the company’s interest in all things out-of-this-world that are being celebrated this year.

A new global study by the LEGO Group has revealed that 86% of kids are interested in finding new planets, stars and galaxies, and 77 percent actually want to travel to space. In addition, more than 68% of children believe there are aliens in space, and 64% say they would like to meet one.

The LEGO Group also asked kids from across the world how they would like to explore the cosmos, with some of their spacecraft designs reimagined in brick form with the help of LEGO House Associate Master Builder, Didac Perez Soriano. A selection of those unique vessels were then showcased in the New York City skyline last night, in the first-ever ‘UPO’ sighting (Unidentified Playing Objects).

The show included a space bed UPO powered by butterfly wings, complete with a snack drawer for long journeys, a turtle spaceship that walks on the moon, a dog spaceship with 360 windows to see all that space has to offer, and a dinosaur ship with a jetpack, among others.

“I was over the moon when I found out my design had been picked,’ said Lotty Ingle, the 10-year-old UK designer of a butterfly wing powered bed spaceship. “I kept saying to my mum “Really?”, “No, but really Mum?”. I would love to travel to all the planets that no one has discovered yet and see if there’s life there, and if they’re just like us.”

All UPOs in their LEGO brick form can be viewed at the Explore Space Your Way exhibition currently to be found at the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark, until June 17. The collaborative exhibition with the Technical University of Denmark at LEGO Square allows visitors to learn more about the infinite depths of space through wildly creative exhibits crafted entirely from LEGO bricks.

In addition, children are invited to go to LEGO.com/Space to download a sky map and join the dots together to show what object or shape they can see in the stars. The LEGO Group will then work with the International Astronomical Union to recognise their formations as Funstellations – official reimaginations of our constellations.

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