LEGO 1682 Space Shuttle Launch

LEGO® Technic 1682 Space Shuttle is a Town Airport set released in 1990. It contains 392 parts to build a space shuttle with an external tank and booster rockets, a launch pad with launch tower and a small transport vehicle. Includes three minifigures: an astronaut and two technicians.

The set is LEGO's first model of a space shuttle and its launch pad. The launch tower had a crane on the top and a hinged docking port on the side that could be placed on the shuttle's payload bay.

The shuttle itself has a robotic arm and a small satellite inside.3 It was labeled with American flags and the text "United States" on its wings and fuselage, while the ground vehicle bore the NASA logo.

The red lattice pillars that make up the tower first appeared in this set and were otherwise very rare pieces appearing in only six other sets.
This was the first LEGO set to involve NASA and the last until the introduction of Discovery in 2003. Other Town space shuttle sets featured fictional space agencies.
A similar set is 6339 Shuttle Launch Pad released in 1995 and 6346 Shuttle Launching Crew from 1992 included a shuttle similar in design to the one in this set.
This set did not appear in European catalogues.

Also view the other Space Shuttles from LEGO. READ MORE >>>