For 35 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has looked out into the Universe. Now, Lego is inviting builders to look inward with its latest model of the orbiting observatory.

The new Lego Icons Hubble Space Telescope (set no. 11382) was released on August 1 for $140 at the toy company’s stores and its online shop. The 1,252-piece kit builds a 15-inch-long (38-cm) desktop model that is about twice as large as the previously released Lego Hubble models.

The Icons Hubble is the first to be sized in comparison to a Lego minifigure, such that the included astronaut provides a sense of scale for the telescope.

Of the previous three Hubble models, two were scaled to their companion orbiters: Lego Discovery Space Shuttle—STS-31, set 7470, from 2003 and Lego Icons NASA Space Shuttle Discovery, 10283, released in 2021. The third was a desktop model for the minifigure tribute to astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, the “Mother of Hubble,” included with the Women of NASA set, no. 21312, in 2017.

The real Hubble Space Telescope was launched on the space shuttle Discovery and deployed by the STS-31 crew in 1990. It is 43.5 feet long (13.2 meters), making the new Lego desktop model about 1:35 scale. (Lego minifigure scale is generally accepted to be between 1:35 and 1:45 scale, as the minifigures are not proportionally accurate.)

Open wide (field camera)

According to the set’s instruction book, in addition to being faithful to the overall shape and exterior details of the Hubble Space Telescope, the new Lego Icons model is the first to build representations of the science instruments and interior components that enable Hubble to operate in Earth orbit.

“In close collaboration with our partners at NASA and ESA, we’ve recreated authentic engineering details inside and out,” reads the designers’ introduction to the set in the book. “Each section of your model corresponds to real instruments that helped discover remarkable new information about our universe.”

The aperture door at the top of the telescope opens, affording a view of the secondary mirror assembly inside. Two panels along the upper and lower body of the Hubble can also be removed to expose the mirrors, as well as the central baffle that directs the light from stars and galaxies to the observatory’s instruments and primary mirror.