{"id":19053,"date":"2017-02-28T18:52:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T10:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/from-hidden-figures-to-minifigures-lego-toys-immortalize-the-women-of-nasa\/"},"modified":"2017-02-28T18:52:58","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T10:52:58","slug":"from-hidden-figures-to-minifigures-lego-toys-immortalize-the-women-of-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/from-hidden-figures-to-minifigures-lego-toys-immortalize-the-women-of-nasa\/","title":{"rendered":"From \u2018Hidden Figures\u2019 to minifigures: Lego toys immortalize the women of NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_313823\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-313823\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-313823\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-women-nasa-630x403.jpg\" alt=\"Women of NASA Lego set\" width=\"630\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-women-nasa-630x403.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-women-nasa-768x491.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-women-nasa.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-313823\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maia Weinstock\u2019s proposed \u201cWomen of NASA\u201d set of Lego minifigures includes, from left, Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman and Mae Jemison. These figures are fan-generated renditions. The official design is yet to be determined. (Maia Weinstock Photo via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s all systems go for a new set of Lego minifigures celebrating women researchers at NASA, including the central figure in the acclaimed movie \u201cHidden Figures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who worked out trajectories for the Mercury and Apollo programs, is among the five women portrayed in the set. At the age of 98, Johnson has gotten a renewed burst of Hollywood fame (including an appearance at this week\u2019s Oscars) thanks to her part in the real-life story behind \u201cHidden Figures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The four other women getting the Lego treatment are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Margaret Hamilton, now 80, who developed the onboard flight software for the Apollo missions while working at MIT under contract with NASA in the 1960s.<\/li>\n<li>Mae Jemison, 60, who became the first African-American woman in space in 1992 during a science mission aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.<\/li>\n<li>Sally Ride (1951-2012), who was the first American woman in space thanks to a 1983 mission on the space shuttle Challenger, and went on to create educational programs focused on getting girls into science.<\/li>\n<li>Nancy Grace Roman, 91, an astronomer and NASA executive who is known as the \u201cMother of Hubble\u201d for her role in planning the Hubble Space Telescope.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Science writer Maia Weinstock&nbsp;proposed the \u201cWomen of NASA\u201d set through&nbsp;a Lego program that solicits ideas for customized toy figures. Twelve ideas received the required 10,000 votes for consideration. Today, Lego gave the go-ahead for Weinstock\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re still working out the final product design, pricing and availability for the Women of NASA set, so check back on Lego Ideas in late 2017 or early 2018 for more details,\u201d Lego\u2019s Hasan Jensen wrote.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Second 2016 Review Results - LEGO Ideas\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l8MQikqaPg0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Lego said it was still considering another one of the 12 ideas, highlighting \u201cVoltron \u2013 Defender of the Universe.\u201d Among those that were passed over: a Lego version of the Large Hadron Collider, a Star Wars Landspeeder and a set celebrating computer science pioneers Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage.<\/p>\n<p>An earlier set of Lego women scientists became a&nbsp;collector\u2019s item&nbsp;after its retirement, and it\u2019s likely that the upcoming set will be similarly sought after.<\/p>\n<p>Weinstock\u2019s proposal leaves the door open for combining the minifigs with settings ranging from NASA Mission Control to the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope. Check out these unofficial, totally fan-powered scenes:<\/p>\n<style>.fotorama1782803388726 .fotorama__nav--thumbs .fotorama__nav__frame{\npadding:2px;\nheight:64px}\n.fotorama1782803388726 .fotorama__thumb-border{\nheight:60px;\nborder-width:2px;\nmargin-top:2px}<\/style>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-hidden.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 533.333px; height: 400px; left: 63.3333px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tNASA mathematician Katherine Johnson works out her calculations in a fan-created Lego scene. (Maia Weinstock Photo)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-womenwalk.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 533.333px; height: 400px; left: 63.3333px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tMargaret Hamilton holds a newspaper reporting the Apollo 11 moon landing in a fan-generated Lego scene. (Maia Weinstock Photo)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-shuttle.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 533.333px; height: 400px; left: 63.3333px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tSally Ride and Mae Jemison flank a space shuttle. (Maia Weinstock Photo)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-hidden.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 85.3333px; height: 64px; left: -0.166667px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-shuttle.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 85.3333px; height: 64px; left: -0.166667px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-hubble.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 85.3333px; height: 64px; left: -0.166667px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/170228-womenwalk.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 85.3333px; height: 64px; left: -0.166667px; top: 0px;\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maia Weinstock\u2019s proposed \u201cWomen of NASA\u201d set of Lego minifigures includes, from left, Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman and Mae Jemison. These figures are fan-generated renditions. The official design is yet to be determined. (Maia Weinstock Photo via Twitter) It\u2019s all systems go for a new set of Lego minifigures celebrating [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5269,4884,190,21,4885,4824,4453],"class_list":["post-19053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-hidden-figures","tag-lego","tag-nasa","tag-space","tag-toys","tag-women-in-science","tag-women-in-stem"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}