
As consumers descend upon stores everywhere for the annual Black Friday sales, let's look back at what holiday shoppers of yore bought for the little science fiction fans in their lives: 20 years' worth of Lego Space toys.
From 1978 to 1999, Lego regularly released lines of toys themed around deep space exploration. Lego Space was discontinued to make way for a decade's worth of Lego Star Wars sets, although the theme made a comeback this year with its third incarnation of the Space Police line. (You can see its flagship, the Galactic Enforcer, up at the top.) But for more than two decades, Lego continuously released more than 200 sets in its Lego Space theme, and that's what we're here to honor. Here now are some of the highlights. And yes, I'm pretty sure I've bought, built, and disassembled a good 60% of these.

Name: Space Rocket
Year: 1964
It's a little on the basic side, admittedly, but keep in mind people had only been sending real rockets into space for less than a decade. I'm willing to cut it some slack.

Name: Rocket Base
Year: 1973

Name: Moon Landing
Year: 1975

Name: Rocket Launcher
Year: 1978
Line: Classic Space
One of the first wave of toys in Lego's official Space line, the Rocket Launcher helped initiate two decades worth of space-themed sets.

Name: Mobile Tracking Station
Year: 1978
Line: Classic Space

Name: Space Shuttle
Year: 1979
Line: Classic Space

Name: Space Shuttle
Year: 1979
Line: Classic Space

Name: Alpha-1 Rocket Base
Year: 1979
Line: Classic Space

Name: Beta-1 Command Base
Year: 1980
Line: Classic Space

Name: Starfleet Voyager
Year: 1981
Line: Classic Space

Name: Mobile Rocket Transport
Year: 1982
Line: Classic Space

Name: Galaxy Commander
Year: 1983
Line: Classic Space

Name: Intergalactic Command Base
Year: 1984
Line: Classic Space

Name: Cosmic Fleet Voyager
Year: 1986
Line: Classic Space

Name: Polaris-1 Space Lab
Year: 1987
Line: Classic Space

Name: Monorail Transport System
Year: 1987
Line: Classic Space

Name: Battrax
Year: 1987
Line: Blacktron
After nine years of general Space sets, Battrax helped kick off the new Blacktron line. The next decade would be dominated by a steady rotation of different variations on the Space theme.

Name: Invader
Year: 1987
Line: Blacktron

Name: Renegade
Year: 1987
Line: Blacktron

Name: Message Intercept Base
Year: 1988
Line: Blacktron

Name: Alienator
Year: 1988
Line: Blacktron

Name: Stardefender "200"
Year: 1987
Line: Futuron

Name: Cosmic Laser Launcher
Year: 1987
Line: Futuron

Name: Space Lock-up Isolation Base
Year: 1989
Line: Space Police I

Name: Mission Commander
Year: 1989
Line: Space Police I

Name: Stellar Recon Voyager
Year: 1990
Line: M:Tron

Name: Mega Core Magnetizer
Year: 1990
Line: M:Tron

Name: Aerial Intruder
Year: 1991
Line: Blacktron Future Generation

Name: Spectral Starguider
Year: 1991
Line: Blacktron Future Generation

Name: Alpha Centauri Outpost
Year: 1991
Line: Blacktron Future Generation

Name: Rebel Hunter
Year: 1992
Line: Space Police II

Name: Galactic Mediator
Year: 1992
Line: Space Police II

Name: Ice Station Odyssey
Year: 1993
Line: Ice Planet 2002

Name: Ice-Sat V
Year: 1993
Line: Ice Planet 2002

Name: Deep Freeze Defender
Year: 1993
Line: Ice Planet 2002

Name: Saucer Centurion
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius

Name: Recon Robot
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius

Name: Robo-Guardian
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius

Name: Saucer Scout
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius

Name: Lunar Launch Site
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius

Name: Monorail Transport Base
Year: 1994
Line: Unitron

Name: Star Hawk II
Year: 1995
Line: Unitron

Name: Crater Cruiser
Year: 1995
Line: Unitron

Name: Space Station Zenon
Year: 1995
Line: Unitron

Name: Explorien Starship
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens

Name: Nebula Outpost
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens

Name: Android Base
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens

Name: Scorpion Detector
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens

Name: Robo Stalker
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce

Name: Robo Master
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce

Name: Robo Raider
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce

Name: Robo Raptor
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce

Name: Warp Wing-Fighter
Year: 1997
Line: UFO

Name: Interstellar Starfighter
Year: 1997
Line: UFO

Name: Alien Avenger
Year: 1997
Line: UFO

Name: Arachnoid Starbase
Year: 1998
Line: Insectoids

Name: Celestial Stinger
Year: 1998
Line: Insectoids

Name: Bi-Wing Blaster
Year: 1998
Line: Insectoids
DISCUSSION
I love(d) Lego and had, quite frankly, a ridiculous amount. I was a huge fan of the underwater kits (basically pretty similar to the space stuff but with a blue and yellow colour motif). Once I owned every single possible piece of the underwater set my parents started buying the space stuff to add in. So in my little Lego world the Nebula Outpost and the Android Base were both used for underwater exploration.
There's a good chance I'll now spend part of Christmas break in my parent's basement, digging out all my old Lego.