Five women scientists of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will be honored into Lego pieces soon.
Lego announced Feb. 28 the new figures will depict several of the space pioneers who played vital roles in the U.S. space program.
Maia Weinstock, a deputy editor of MIT News, tweeted Tuesday a preview picture of the figures with the caption, “Thrilled to finally share: @LegoNASAWomen has passed the @LEGOIdes Review and will soon be real LEGO set!”
The figures will include; Sally Ride the first American woman in space, Nancy Grace Roman who’s known as the “mother” of the Hubble Space Telescope, Mae Jemison the first African American woman in space, Margaret Hamilton and Katherine Johnson who helped in putting the first people on the moon.
Lego was founded in the 1930’s in Denmark. In the past Lego has faced criticism for lacking professional female characters.
In 2014 the company received a letter from a seven-year-old girl who wrote that she loved Legos, but felt girls were not fairly represented.
The young Lego fan stated in the handwritten note that the girl Legos just went shopping and didn’t have jobs like the boy Legos did, they went on adventures and saved people. She wanted girls to go on adventures and have fun like the boy characters did.
Lego responded with a “research institute” set designed by geophysicist Ellen Kooijam. The set featured three female scientists, which was limited edition.
The release for the space pioneers will be released by early 2018, the company has not determined if this set will be limited edition as well.
