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Astronaut builds Lego space station in real space station

Nimble-fingered astronaut builds a Lego space station scale model while floating around inside the actual International Space Station.

Furukawa shows space station model
Space Legos are much more challenging than Earth Legos. NASA

Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa flew 220 miles into space to play with toys. His recent stay on the International Space Station included several hours of building a Lego version of his orbiting abode.

Lego space station in progress
I challenge you to make your next Lego project in a box with gloves on. (Click to enlarge.) NASA

Furukawa didn't have to sneak his bricks onboard. The Lego project is part of an official educational effort that aims to teach schoolchildren about life in space.

"The ISS was put together in space, piece by piece. It's very similar to how you put together Lego bricks on earth," Furukawa says in a video about the model.

It's annoying enough to step on stray Lego bricks here on Earth. You can imagine the carnage if a box full of the little plastic bits got loose in space.

Furukawa contained his project within a clear housing until everything was firmly clicked into place. Only then did the Lego space station get to log a little weightlessness time.

The containment system meant putting together the tiny pieces while wearing thick gloves, an accomplishment that should earn Furukawa entry into the pantheon of Lego-builder gods.

Check out a time-lapse of the build and some sweet zero-gravity flotation action in the video below. This would be a killer audition tape should Furukawa ever decide to apply for a job at Legoland.