Tomorrow night, the NASA Juno spacecraft will finally be entering Jupiter’s orbit after a five year journey. Onboard the Juno are some LEGO minifigures that were created as part of a partnership between NASA and The LEGO Group to inspire children to pursue science and engineering.
The minifigures are made out of a special space-grade aluminum and they represent some important mythological and science figures which includes the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and Galileo Galilei. Jupiter is holding a lightning bolt as he is the god of the sky and thunder. Juno holds a magnifying glass to signify her search for the truth. Galileo holds a miniature planet of Jupiter as well as a telescope.
The LEGO minifigures will not be returning to Earth as they will be intentionally dropped into Jupiter’s atmosphere after the Juno probe orbits the planet for a year.
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This is a major achievement for Lego, getting Minifigures to go to Jupiter before Humans do, now that’s something!
Who else was thinking of hijacking the spaceship to “acquire” that lighting peice?!?
I still want both the lightning bolt and the planet. Everything else exists in some form.