back to article Lego space shuttle hits 114,000ft

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 …

COMMENTS

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  1. TRT
    Thumb Up

    To bold Lego...

    where no-one has gone before.

    1. jai

      Re: To bold Lego...

      oh very well played sir!

    2. CD001
      Happy

      Re: To bold Lego...

      Hat well and truly doffed! :D

    3. AndrueC Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: To bold Lego...

      Sir, you have my admiration for a pun well played.

      1. TRT

        Re: To bold Lego...

        Why thank you. And the same back to you, all of you "well played" commentatorards. It took me a while to get it; nicely done.

    4. RTNavy

      Re: To bold Lego...

      It wasn't until Patrick Stewart started the Next Generation with the same intro (in proper English), that I finally understood what "Bold Lego" actually meant!

      1. stucs201
        Coat

        Re: Patrick Stewart

        Thats to baldly go...

        (Yes, coat time, but please not the red one!)

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To bold Lego...

      To THE REGISTER

      Can TRT's comment be officially recognised by The Register as the best comment of all time or something?

      I mean, clearly it is. It should definitely have a badge or something.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: To bold Lego...

        We need a league table for "most upvotes", or perhaps "most net upvotes".

        1. Minophis

          Re: To bold Lego...

          A league table for most downvotes would pretty good as well.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: To bold Lego...

          Yep, such as "Best of Craigslist"

      2. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

        Re: Re: To bold Lego...

        It's pretty good. Maybe we should have a poll to vote for the best comment of all time?

        1. TRT

          Re: To bold Lego...

          Oddly enough, my two most up-voted comments have both been Trek related. I think that says a lot about the El Reg readership, and possibly indicates a new icon requirement.

        2. Ian Stephenson

          Re: To bold Lego...

          Poll? nah, just a list showing, in order the top 10/20/50/100 voted comments for both up and down.

          As the holder of a +46 I would hope I make the top 10, but accept I am not in the same league as TRT.

          Kudo's to you sir.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: To bold Lego...

            "Poll? nah, just a list showing, in order the top 10/20/50/100 voted comments for both up and down."

            That

            "As the holder of a +46"

            It's +47 now heh. Yes, I am bored.

    6. dont care what ever
      Happy

      Re: To bold Lego...

      come on reg , give him a badge or something

    7. dajames

      Re: To bold Lego...

      I couldn't leave you with 144 upvotes, it seemed ... gross!

    8. NomNomNom

      Re: To bold Lego...

      rofl lol lmao i have given the only downvote!

    9. Mayhem

      Re: To bold Lego...

      You did well enough the newspapers are stealing the phrase for a headline :)

      1. TRT

        Re: To bold Lego...

        To be fair, I don't think I was the first to say that. It's so obvious, it must have been done before somewhere.

        1. Annihilator
          Pint

          Re: To bold Lego...

          "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.

  2. quarky
    Happy

    What about the rocket??

    If they can get the shuttle to orbit, can they get the Lego City Rocket (3366) to to the moon? I for one want to see them try.

    1. quarky

      Re: What about the rocket??

      3368 even, that is the big one!

      1. TRT

        Re: What about the rocket??

        I would have been even more impressed if they had deployed one of these:

        http://tinyurl.com/74vdm7e

        1. Graham Marsden
          Happy

          Re: What about the rocket??

          I would have been worried if it was one of these...

          http://www.gadgetreview.com/wp-content/gallery/lego-death-star/lego-death-star-2.jpg

  3. jai

    playmonaut

    I think the Playmonaut would find conditions rather cramped on the lego shuttle, he's got to be at least 3 times the size of a normal legoperson!

  4. Isendel Steel
    Childcatcher

    Re-entry

    Did it fly like a brick ? and did it do what all Lego constructions do if you drop them from 5 inches ?

    (and were the children upset after spending so long putting the model together?)

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Re-entry

      Phew! So I wasn't the only one who thought it would fly...

  5. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Stop

    Risk of serious injury to cosmonaut...

    "Our own heroic Playmonaut reckons he would have liked a piece of this mission".

    Pft! Silliest thing I've heard all morning. How do fasten a Playmobil thing onto a lego thing? They're not compatible, are they?

    Remember: Safety first!

  6. CowardlyAndrew

    We want the descent video

    1. Code Monkey

      Agreed

      A total cop out (or kopp out in deference to the German legospacemeisters?)

    2. ratfox
      Alien

      It will never descend...

      It will fly away, free and unfettered, discover new worlds, strange dark planets under binary stars, off the shoulder of Orion...

      1. Michael Dunn
        Happy

        Re: It will never descend...

        And think what the aliens might make of it?

  7. archengel46
    Flame

    Temperatures

    Can someone tell me what temperture do things get to when they are at the top of the atmosphere and have the sun shining full force on them?

    What temperature does Lego melt at?

    1. Falanx
      Boffin

      Re: Temperatures

      Lego is made from ABS, so about 140 degrees maximum service temperature.

      It's moulded at about 240 degrees.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Temperatures

      At the top of the atmosphere it is very cold, but if the sun is shining on you it could be around 150 degrees C.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Now Wait For The Russians

    How will it look when they launch a donkey into the heights of 35km ??

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Impressive

    Nice video work with shuttle centre stage the whole time. Must have weighed a bit too...

  10. Winkypop Silver badge
    Trollface

    Hang on....

    I think I saw the strings!

  11. Tom Melly

    I don't want to complain, but...

    ... would it have killed them to wait for a nicer day?

  12. SynicNZ

    Anyone know who the band was?

    No, not the 2001 theme, the bit first

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Anyone know who the band was?

      No idea, but it was definitely one of those special psychoacoustic tracks.

      It made me want to beat someone over the head with an iPad.

    2. Return To Sender
      Thumb Up

      Re: Anyone know who the band was?

      Radical Face - the song's Welcome Home.

      www.radicalface.com

      1. SynicNZ

        Re: Anyone know who the band was?

        cheers

    3. Steven Roper

      I was going to say

      What's with the happy clappy music? It sounded like the sort of thing people would sit around holding hands and singing during Scientology love-ins or something!

  13. Southern
    Pint

    Bit like the thunderbirds...

    ...I can still see the strings.

    Amazing achievement, Glueckwunsch / Congrats!

  14. Tom7
    FAIL

    YouTube Ad Fail

    "A Quicker Way To France! Book from £44 return, Folkestone to Calais in 35 minutes!"

    Thanks, I'll stick to the scheduled airline service.

  15. Rustident Spaceniak
    Boffin

    @ Tom Melly

    Actually, I rather think it would have. Temperatures in central Germany were very frosty around the New Year, and this guy wasn't really suitably dressed for the season. Plus, really clear skies are somewhat rare in this part of the continent.

  16. Christian Berger

    Political bias

    There has been some political bias in Germany against Playmobil people, since they are not manufactured in China.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ok we get it!

    If you attach something to a weather balloon it goes up very high.

    At least PARIS had a (kind of) point to it.

  18. Michael Thibault
    Go

    Moving.

    Wonder what the glide ratio on that thing would be.

    1. Sureo
      Stop

      Re: Moving.

      Actually it appeared to be flying backwards most of the time. Not much lift there.

      1. Richard Ball

        Re: Moving.

        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)

    2. Mephistro

      Re: Moving.

      Some 3 cm. per kilometer. Not the best glider I've seen :D

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Harmless fun

    There seem to be a lot of people having a bit of harmless fun, attaching things to weather balloons, these days. Shirley it must be about time it was outlawed?

  20. David Cantrell
    Thumb Up

    And unlike the real thing, it could launch when there was a bit of a breeze. NASA should hire these guys.

  21. R J Tysoe

    Well that explains the Lego nose cone embedded in my skull.

  22. Juan Inamillion
    Angel

    Hmmm

    Strangely beautiful... the light, the light, turn toward the light...

  23. John Sturdy

    Germans show NASA how it's done? Germans?

    The German contribution was to have less bureaucracy concerning flight permissions than Romania --- the article linked from the YouTube page shows that the constructor is Romanian!

  24. John Sturdy
    Thumb Up

    A definite improvement on the US version

    No problems with tiles, O-rings etc on this one!

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bonus: Nobody has claimed that the thing actually went into space.

    Aside: The first comment is flawless; having a vote on the best comment ever would be superfluous.

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