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STANDARDS
CCSS: 6.EE.B.8
TEKS: 7.10A
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Mini Space Crew
LEGO (Lego Space Shuttle); Dominick Matusinsky/LEGO (inset)
A balloon lifted this space shuttle and Lego minifigures to the edge of space.
Meet the Legonauts! Last May, 1,000 Lego astronaut minifigures took a trip to the edge of space—and back.
A team of architects and engineers from the Central European country of Slovakia launched the Lego figures from a small airport. The figures were riding on three 3-D printed shuttle platforms made from a sturdy yet lightweight material.
The shuttles were attached to balloons that lifted them to space. The balloons reached an altitude of 21 miles before deflating. As they fell back to Earth, the shuttles—and Legonauts—hit speeds of 186 miles per hour! The biggest challenge for the team was making sure that none of the figures fell out while traveling so fast. Luckily their hard work paid off, and all of the Lego astronauts returned safely to Earth.
Each space shuttle and the Lego minifigures aboard it had to weigh less than 6 pounds in total. Write an inequality using the variable w to express this weight limit. Record your work and answer on our Numbers in the News answer sheet.