COBI Space Shuttle Atlantis Set 1930

COBI's Space Shuttle Atlantis is a 1:100 model built from 685 blocks, 34.5 cm long, with movable elements, access to the payload bay, an astronaut figure, a display stand and a mini model of the Hubble Space Telescope with its own stand and nameplates.

A second shuttle stood ready on another pad

The telescope in this box explains why. In May 2009 Atlantis flew STS-125, the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission, and it was the only shuttle flight after the Columbia disaster that could not reach the International Space Station.

That mattered enormously. After Columbia broke up on re-entry in 2003, NASA's rule was that a damaged shuttle would dock with the station and the crew would wait there for rescue. Hubble is in a different orbit — higher, and at an inclination Atlantis could not change with the fuel she carried. If her heat shield was damaged on launch, there was nowhere to go.

So NASA prepared Endeavour on the second launch pad, crewed, fuelled and able to launch within days, for the only purpose of flying up and taking four people off a crippled orbiter. Two shuttles ready at once had not happened since the early 1990s.

It was not needed. Over five spacewalks the crew installed two new instruments, repaired two that had failed, replaced batteries and gyroscopes, and left Hubble better than it had ever been. The telescope is still working sixteen years later, largely because of that flight.

Atlantis

The fourth shuttle to fly, first launched on 3 October 1985. Thirty-three missions, 306 days in orbit, and the last shuttle flight of all — she landed on 21 July 2011 and ended the programme. She is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center, mounted at an angle with the payload bay open, as if in orbit.

Specifications

Pieces: 685 · Figures: 1 astronaut · Scale: 1:100 · Hubble telescope mini model, two stands, nameplates
Model dimensions: 34.5 × 26 × 18.5 cm (13.6 × 10.2 × 7.3 in)