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New LEGO Toy Set Celebrates "Women Of NASA"

Research shows girls and boys perform equally well in science, technology, engineering and math while in school. But that doesn't always follow into careers in the STEM workforce where, particularly in certain fields, there's still a gender gap.

Toymaker LEGO hopes to do its part to encourage girls when it launches a new “Women of NASA” collection.

The toy set will celebrate four pioneering NASA women: Sally Ride, the first female American astronaut; Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to travel in space; computer scientist Margaret Hamilton; and astronomer Nancy Grace Roman.

The idea came through a crowdsourcing platform called LEGO Ideas. “If ideas reach a threshold of 10,000 supporters, essentially 10,000 likes, a team of LEGO professionals decide if it's something that we can make into a LEGO set”, said spokesperson Amanda Madore.

The “Women of NASA” idea quickly hit the threshold.

Madore said LEGO sets have stood the test of time, despite competing with video and computer games. They give kids hands-on practice in STEM skills,“and really teaches kids, both boys and girls, about the benefits of building, engineering, math, architecture,” said Madore.

In addition to the LEGO versions of the real-life NASA women, the new collection will include pieces to build a model of the Hubble Space telescope, the Space Shuttle Challenger and a launch pad.

LEGO is based in Denmark with five offices around the world, including a main office in Enfield, Connecticut.

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Diane Orson is a special correspondent with Connecticut Public. She is a longtime reporter and contributor to National Public Radio. Her stories have been heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Here and Now; and The World from PRX. She spent seven years as CT Public Radio's local host for Morning Edition.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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