LEGO Tintin Moon Rocket Set Brings Classic Comic to Life

Two of my favorite books growing up were Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon, two classic adventures from the world of Tintin created by Hergé. Like many kids who discovered those stories, I became completely fascinated with the bold red-and-white checkered rocket that carried Tintin on his lunar adventure. It is one of those iconic pieces of illustrated science fiction that instantly sticks in your mind. Even decades later, that rocket still feels like one of the most recognizable spacecraft ever drawn in a comic book. So when I heard that The LEGO Group was turning it into an official set, the inner kid in me immediately paid attention.

Those Tintin stories sparked my imagination so much that, as a kid, I actually wrote a letter to NASA. I wanted to know everything about rockets, astronauts, and the possibility of humans traveling to the Moon. To my surprise, someone there wrote back and mailed me a package filled with brochures and literature about the space exploration programs of the time. For a kid who had just been studying every panel of Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon, it felt like getting a behind-the-scenes pass to the real-world version of those adventures.

Now that iconic rocket is being brought to life in brick form. The new LEGO model, Set 21367, the LEGO Ideas Tintin Moon Rocket, launches on April 1, 2026, and looks like a dream display piece for fans of the series. Standing roughly 49 centimeters tall and built from 1,283 pieces, the model captures the distinctive shape of the rocket with smooth, curved brickwork that recreates the famous red-and-white checker pattern. An internal Technic structure keeps the build strong and stable, making it feel less like a toy and more like a display centerpiece worthy of a shelf or desk. For anyone who spent years staring at those comic panels and imagining what it would be like to ride inside that rocket, the build delivers a powerful dose of nostalgia.

What makes the set even more interesting is that it began as a fan creation. The design was submitted to the LEGO Ideas platform by Portuguese fan builder Alexis Dos Santos, known online as TKel86. After reaching the 10,000 community votes required for review, LEGO approved the project in June 2025 and quickly moved it into production. That turnaround is notably fast for the Ideas platform and shows how much enthusiasm still surrounds Tintin’s Moon adventures.

“Creating the Tintin Moon Rocket has been an incredible journey,” said Alexis Dos Santos.

“I wanted to capture the spirit of Tintin’s iconic rocket in a way that celebrates both its engineering elegance and its place in pop culture. Recreating its curvature and connecting the three floors pushed my creativity, and seeing it finally come together with all the minifigures in their space suits has been incredibly rewarding. I hope the build sparks the same sense of imagination and adventure that inspired me from the very beginning.”

The set also includes six beloved characters from the comics. There is Tintin himself with a brand-new quiff hairpiece, his loyal dog Snowy as an exclusive figure, the always-blustering Captain Haddock wearing his trademark grumpy expression, the brilliant but absent-minded Professor Calculus, and the famously confused detective duo Thomson and Thompson, whose only real difference is the subtle variation in their moustaches. Seeing that entire crew together instantly brings back the humor and charm that made the original stories so memorable.

One of the most fascinating things about the Tintin Moon stories is how scientifically forward-thinking they were. Tintin reached the Moon in the comics in 1953, a full sixteen years before the real-life landing of Apollo 11 led by Neil Armstrong. The famous rocket design itself was inspired by the German V-2 rocket, and the checkered paint pattern was not purely decorative. Similar patterns were used in real rocket testing to visually track a vehicle’s spin and roll during launch. Even more impressively, the story includes the discovery of ice in a lunar cave, something that seemed like pure science fiction in the 1950s but was later confirmed by modern lunar missions.

After the real Moon landing in 1969, Hergé even created a playful tribute illustration showing Tintin, Haddock, and Snowy welcoming Neil Armstrong to the Moon with flowers and a congratulatory sign. It was a charming moment that highlighted just how close the comic’s imagination had come to real-world exploration.

That is why this LEGO set feels like more than just a nostalgic collectible. The bold red-and-white rocket translates beautifully into LEGO bricks, and the silhouette is instantly recognizable from across the room. For fans like me who grew up flipping through Tintin pages and dreaming about space travel, it is the perfect way to finally place that legendary rocket on the launch pad right at home.