Lego is listening to its customers, and they're asking for more female figures. Every year the toy manufacturer hosts the Lego Ideas competition to turn fan suggestions into reality. This year, the event yielded Women in NASA, an inspiring lego set for young women everywhere.

The set's release coincides with the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures, which highlights the work of NASA mathematician and space scientist Katherine Johnson, a female African-American who served as a "human calculator" for trajectory calculations in the Mercury and Apollo programs. Given the film's acclaim, it's not surprising to see a Lego model of Johnson featured in the set.

The other four models include:

  • Sally Ride — The first American woman in space in 1983
  • Nancy Grace Roman — Called the "Mother of Hubble," for her role in the development of the Hubble Telescope
  • Margaret Hamilton — For her work in developing the onboard software for the Apollo
  • Mae Jemison — Who became first African-American woman to enter space in 1992 aboard the Endeavor

Thanks to the proposal of Maia Weinstock, a science writer and deputy editor at MIT news, and the 10,000 people who supported her proposal, we will be able to purchase Lego Women in NASA kits later this year.

Each kit will be ready to inspire the next generation of women to enter the sciences. Watch below to witness the proposal get selected.


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