The Lore

Developed as the fleet’s premiere research and exploration starship between 1978 and 1987, the Deep Space Explorer is still at the forefront of cutting-edge technology today.

Bristling with a variety of sensors and detachable vessels, the Deep Space Explorer’s mission is to explore, map, and research the far reaches of unknown space.

Crewed by 3 Pearl Gold astronauts, 3 Dark Turquoise astronauts, and 2 robots, the Deep Space Explorer is ready for any mission.

NOTE: You can see an early test build, physical size comparison, design insight, and a complete breakdown of my submission in the video below.

Design and Play Features

The Deep Space Explorer is designed to be modular, using Technic bricks with pins for easy, secure connections.

Play features include: retractable landing gear, accessible energy bay/power source, a flexible crane, 2 removable data pads, 2 side command stations, and 8 side thrusters.

The Deep Space Explorer can be broken down into 21 separate builds, which can be combined in a variety of different ways for endless play potential.

Main Elements:

2 Starships

1 Front section with 2 refueling nozzles

1 Middle section housing a rocket and a satellite

1 Rear section housing the rover, flexible crane, and a large sensor dish

3 Engines

3 Unique sensor arrays/satellites

1 Starship assembled from other components

Accessories:

1 Exploration flyer

1 Rover with a small rocket launch pad

1 Large, rotating sensor dish

1 Rocket with detachable satellite

2 Portable tool stations

Classic Space Connections

As a fan of Classic Space, I wanted to make sure I incorporated colors, parts, and stickers into the Deep Space Explorer.

Some notable highlights include the use of blue and light bluish gray as main colors, but I also added in some white since that was a color that was added as more early sets were released.

I included some parts, such as various-sized dishes, the round brick with fins, modified plate 1 x 2 with long stud receptacle, and bar 1 x 3 with clip and stud receptacle, to name a few.

Since most early printed parts are no longer in production, I went ahead and also included what will be stickered parts, such as the action arrow tiles for where the sections separate or where there is an action, such as engines folding out, and the Classic Space logo.