To bold Lego...
where no-one has gone before.
Those of you who are still mourning the end of the space shuttle programme should take heart that while NASA is currently grounded, we in Europe still have the Right Stuff: According to the video blurb, the Lego shuttle (model 3367) launched from central Germany on 31 December last year, and hit a heady 35,000m (114,800ft …
"To be fair, I don't think I was the first to say that."
Cough, not even the first on the reg forums..
http://forums.theregister.co.uk/post/1296148
Not that I begrudge you ;-) I was loathed to credit it to Chris Evans, and think it might even have been a listener who texted it in.
Lift is just the force normal to the direction of flow - so there's probably still quite a bit of it if you go backwards - it just doesn't necessarily act in the right direction to keep you up in the air.
IIRC, the Mercury capsule had its C/G on the axis, so it was non-lifty, whilst the Gemini and Apollo capsules had their weight shifted off-axis, and that made them lifty - which meant that if you could tilt them you could steer / fly them where you want to go.
(which technically makes them gliders, but don't bother trying to soar)