LEGO Icons 11382 Hubble Space Telescope, the first time LEGO has made Hubble the main event rather than cargo. Image: The LEGO Group.
The short version
LEGO® Icons 11382 Hubble Space Telescope is 1,252 pieces for A$229.99, and it is comfortably the biggest and most detailed Hubble the LEGO Group has made across three attempts. The exterior panels lift away to show the instrument bay, the aperture door opens, and the display stand carries three of Hubble’s most famous images. Mid-range money by Icons standards, and the display value earns it. Adults and shelves only, astronaut minifigure notwithstanding.
Thirty-six years ago, NASA and the European Space Agency put a telescope into orbit and changed how humanity sees the universe. The LEGO Group has finally given Hubble a model worthy of it, and 11382 arrives carrying an emblem marking the telescope’s first 35 years. We built it. Here is whether it earns a spot on your shelf, and your budget.
The basics
- Set number: 11382
- Theme: LEGO® Icons
- Pieces: 1,252
- Minifigures: 1
- Price: A$229.99 (lego.com/en-au)
- Release date: 1 August 2026
- Recommended age: 18+
Fact
Hubble launched on 24 April 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-31, so it has now been in orbit for 36 years. The plaque in this set commemorates its first 35 years, the milestone Hubble passed in April 2025. This is also the LEGO Group’s third crack at Hubble: smaller, simpler versions were tucked inside 7470 Space Shuttle Discovery in 2003 and 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery in 2021, both times as a passenger rather than the main event.
The build
This is an Icons Space set through and through, which means it is built to be handled, admired and photographed rather than played with by little hands. The construction sequence walks you through Hubble’s cylindrical body first, before moving into the fiddlier work of the solar arrays, the two large panels that fold out to recreate the telescope’s real silhouette.
The clever bit is the functionality the LEGO Group has packed in. The exterior panels lift away to reveal a detailed instrument bay, with the gyroscopes and both the primary and secondary mirrors modelled inside. The aperture door opens and closes, and the solar arrays and antennas are positionable once the model is finished.
That primary mirror is worth pausing on. The real one shipped with a famous manufacturing flaw, a spherical aberration that left Hubble’s early images blurred and the project publicly humiliated, until a servicing mission corrected it in December 1993. Everything Hubble is now remembered for came after that repair. It is the kind of detail that separates a good display piece from a great one.
Everything Hubble is now remembered for came after that repair.
The LEGO Group has leaned into the anniversary angle with the display stand, which carries brick-styled versions of three of Hubble’s most recognisable images, the Pillars of Creation, the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Butterfly Nebula, alongside an information plaque that lists every servicing mission from SM1 in 1993 to SM4 in 2009. A nice touch for anyone who grew up with Hubble posters on their bedroom wall.
Three Hubbles, twenty-three years apart
Hubble has been quietly turning up in LEGO® sets since 2003, always as somebody else’s luggage. Line the three up and you can watch LEGO® slowly work out that the telescope was the interesting bit all along.
| 7470 | 10283 | 11382 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Space Shuttle Discovery | NASA Space Shuttle Discovery | Hubble Space Telescope |
| Year | 2003 | 2021 | 2026 |
| Pieces | 826 | 2,354 | 1,252 |
| Hubble’s role | Cargo in the bay | Companion model on its own stand | The entire set |
| Status | Long retired | Retired | Available, A$229.99 |
The 2003 version is the one that makes you appreciate how far parts design has come. Hubble there is a grey cylinder with two printed panels stuck on, riding in Discovery’s cargo bay, and it reads as a telescope mostly because the box tells you it is one. Fair enough. It was a shuttle set, and it was 2003.
10283 is the interesting middle chapter. It recreates STS-31, the actual mission that carried Hubble into orbit in 1990, and it gives the telescope its own display stand and its own little plaque instead of burying it in the payload bay. That was LEGO® acknowledging Hubble deserved better, while still selling you a shuttle.
11382 is the version that stops apologising. At 1,252 pieces it uses roughly half the parts of 10283 and spends every one of them on the telescope, which is why the panelling, the instrument bay and the servicing-mission plaque exist at all. If you own 10283, the two do not really compete. One is a shuttle with a telescope, the other is a telescope, and they sit together on a shelf better than either does alone.
What it costs, and whether that is fair
The LEGO Group’s Icons Space sub-theme has quietly become one of the strongest corners of the whole Icons range. At 1,252 pieces and A$229.99, Hubble sits mid-range for Icons, not a cheap impulse buy, but reasonable for a set of this scale and detail, and noticeably more accessible than the larger Icons builds that sail past A$300.
Opinion
We think this is one of the better value entries in Icons Space this year, but be honest with yourself about what you are buying. The money goes on presence, not play. If the subject does nothing for you, no amount of clever panelling will fix that.
Where it really shines is display value. The finished model has genuine presence, and the opening mechanisms mean it does not just sit there looking pretty. There is something to actually show visitors.
The verdict
What we liked: the removable panelling and the instrument bay hiding underneath it, the anniversary tie-in details, and a price that feels fair for what you get. It is also a rare LEGO® set that doubles as a genuine conversation starter about space science, not just about LEGO®.
What to know before you buy: like most Icons Space sets, this is built for adult builders and display. If you are after something for kids to actually play with, look elsewhere in the range. The single astronaut minifigure is there for scale, not for storytelling.
Our take: one of the better value entries in Icons Space this year, and a fitting tribute to one of the most important scientific instruments ever built. Recommended, especially if you already have a soft spot for the LEGO Group’s space sub-theme.
11382 Hubble Space Telescope is available now at lego.com/en-au for A$229.99.
Sources
- LEGO®.com AU, Hubble Space Telescope 11382 product page
- Jay’s Brick Blog, LEGO® 11382 Hubble Space Telescope celebrates 35th anniversary (Australian pricing)
- collectSPACE, the LEGO Group reveals Hubble Space Telescope Icons set (previous LEGO® Hubble models)
- The Brick Fan, LEGO® Icons Hubble Space Telescope (11382) officially announced (official set description)
- The Rambling Brick, LEGO® Icons 11382 Hubble Space Telescope hands-on review
- NASA, 35 Years of Hubble Images (launch date and anniversary)
- BrickLink catalogue, 7470 Space Shuttle Discovery (year and piece count)
- BrickLink catalogue, 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (year and piece count)
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