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Lego sets up 'space station' at San Diego Comic-Con, offers mission crew patch

closeup of a patch on a blue shirt, which shows a spacesuited lego man smiling and waving. blurry bins of legos are in the background

Lego fans visiting Space Station 8R1CK5, the company's booth at San Diego Comic-Con, can join the "mission crew" and receive an exclusive minifigure patch. (Image credit: Lego)

Lego is recruiting new members for its "mission crew," issuing rocket builders with an exclusive mission patch at this year's San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC).

The toy company has launched "Space Station 8R1CK5," a sprawling booth that highlights many of its recent space-themed building sets within a setting that was inspired by both sci-fi and real-life orbiting outposts. Show-goers will find photo opportunities, panels and show-only opportunities inside Space Station 8R1CK5 (booth 2829), which is open through the convention's close on Sunday (July 29).

"Space is an endless playground for imagination and storytelling; we are hoping to capture that playground spirit right here at Space Station 8R1CK5," said Beth McKenna, head of U.S. marketing at the Lego Group, in a statement.

a large group of people congregate on a show floor at a comics convention

Lego fans attending SDCC are invited to design and build their own rocket, spacecraft or satellite to earn their own Mission Crew patch. Using provided Lego bricks and a bracket "to make sure your rocket is flight-ready," the creations can then be sent "into space" by setting them in front of a station view screen and sharing a photo (or video) of them using the hashtag "#legosdcc."

"After over 20 years of showcasing at San Diego Comic-Con, we wanted to wow fans yet again and worked hard to create a brand-new experience that offers something for everyone," said McKenna.

The cloth patch with sticker backing features the image of a Classic Space Lego Spaceman minifigure and is inscribed "Space Station 8R1CK5," "Lego Mission Crew" and "Comic-Con International 2024."

a large group of people congregate on a show floor at a comics convention. a red cube that says "lego" hangs from the ceiling

Elsewhere in the booth, attendees can browse through a display of more than 50 Lego building sets, including an assortment of space sets from Lego City, Lego Technic and Lego Icons lines. This year is the first time that Lego has marketed products under a common "Space" theme.

Attendees can also view a life-size Lego-built statue of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, travel to a galaxy far, far away... at the Lego Star Wars product display and have a "close encounter" with specimens from different universes with Lego IP products. Or, as Lego advises, they "can watch the time float by from one of the space windows and content screens."

The Lego Mission Crew patch is at least the third space-themed cloth badge that the company has given away. Earlier patches depicting the NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander and International Space Station were distributed with the purchase of their sets in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

a black bookcase with nasa's blue meatball logo on it sits on a gray carpet on the floor of a comics convention

NASA's booth at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con features astronaut autograph opportunities, an exoplanet and astrophysics coloring station, as well as the agency's "First Woman" comic book and its newly-revealed Artemis II crew poster (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

LEGO's Space Station 8R1CK5 is in the same galactic neighborhood as at least one other major space-themed booth in the SDCC 2024 Exhibit Hall. NASA has its own display (booth 3845), where it is promoting its newly revealed Artemis 2 crew poster, showing the next four astronauts to fly to the moon, and the agency's previously published "First Woman" comic book, which follows a young girl as she becomes the first female to reach the lunar surface.

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Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.

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