Lego Education, NASA launch interactive 'Build to Launch' exhibit for Artemis 1 moon mission

Four Lego minifigures in orange spacesuits
As part of the upcoming Artemis 1 launch, Lego Education has created an interactive learning experience at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (Image credit: Lego)

If you want to get hands-on with the upcoming Artemis 1 launch, here's your chance.

Lego Education is teaming up with NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida to bring a unique hands-on building and learning experience to the Artemis 1 launch scheduled for Monday (Aug. 29). 

Starting Friday (Aug. 26) and running through Monday (Aug. 29), Lego Education will offer a special interactive exhibit called "Build to Launch: A STEAM Exploration Series" at the Debus Conference Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The exhibit will offer participants the opportunity to learn about the Artemis 1 program through a hands-on experience that teaches what it takes to build a spacecraft that can travel to the moon and back.

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Lego Education calls the exhibit an "immersive, hands-on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) learning experience" that tasks participants with helping two Lego Education minifigures, Kate and Kyle, prepare for the Artemis 1 launch.  

The experience features three learning modules from Lego's Build to Launch: A STEAM Exploration Series designed in collaboration with NASA: Getting to Space, Testing and Transport, and Working in Space. Participants can complete three hands-on missions that take them through Kate and Kyle's pre-flight checklist, taking about 10 minutes to complete.

Lego Education minifigures Kate and Kyle. (Image credit: Lego)

In addition to the special interactive Artemis 1 experience, Lego Education and KSC are offering a series of "engineer design challenges and make-and-take activities" through the Lego Build to Launch: A STEAM Exploration Series, which offers a free 10-week learning series available online.

"It has been inspiring to see students around the world learn about Artemis 1 and discover the possibilities in STEAM through the Build to Launch series," said Jenny Nash, head of Education Impact U.S. at Lego Education. "With this launch, we are going to send Kate and Kyle to space in a once in a lifetime real-world application for students and look forward to sparking even more joy, curiosity, and a love of learning in the next generation of STEAM and space explorers." 

Visitors participate in a hands-on Lego experience at Kennedy Space Center.

Visitors participate in a hands-on Build to Launch Lego experience at Kennedy Space Center. (Image credit: Lego)

Artemis 1, an uncrewed test flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft that will eventually return astronauts to the moon, is currently scheduled to launch from Pad 39B of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on Monday (Aug. 29). 

Liftoff is scheduled for 8:33 a.m. EDT (1233 GMT), as long as weather conditions remain favorable. You can watch the launch live online on Monday beginning at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV.

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Brett Tingley
Managing Editor, Space.com

Brett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more. Brett has English degrees from Clemson University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his free time, Brett enjoys skywatching throughout the dark skies of the Appalachian mountains.