Video: Lego space shuttle almost makes it to space

I’ve always been a big fan of Lego models, especially when uber-geeks take the little bricks and create advanced designs or structures.

Of course, this has to rank right up there with some of my favorite Lego stories. Yes, the very talented Raul Oaida (from Romania) managed to construct a pretty sweet model of the retired space shuttle NASA once used to ferry astronauts from Earth into orbit.

Apparently, Oaida wanted to make his model as realistic as possible, so he used a giant helium-filled balloon to fly his Lego space shuttle some 21 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Oaida tracked his space shuttle with a GPS, which allowed him to recover the model approximately 240 km or roughly 150 miles from where it was launched.

The introduction to the YouTube video reads: “My name is Raul Oaida (from Romania) and this is my LEGO tribute to the end of the space shuttle era… I’ve always been profoundly inspired by spaceflight. The Lego Shuttle was the only space program I could afford.”