Legos! In! Spaaaaaaaaaaace!

?From Wired:

This Friday, NASA will launch an Atlas V rocket that will be contain a
very special payload. Not only will the rocket be carrying Juno, a space
probe that is being sent to Jupiter to study the fifth planet from the
Sun, but there will be a few unique stowaways. Thanks to a joint mission
between NASA and Lego, there will be three very special Lego minifigs
affixed to the spacecraft.

The figures, milled from aluminum, will accompany Juno on its five-year trip to Jupiter. When Juno arrives in 2016, the Lego likeness of the Roman god, Jupiter, his sister, Juno, and the Italian astronomer, Galileo, will be there to take in all the sights and bask in the immensity of the largest planet.

This (until now) secret installation was initiated by NASA scientists, who loveLego
as much as anyone and wanted to do something memorable for this
mission. They approached Lego and the company loved the idea. It saw the
project as a way to promote children’s education and STEM programs.

The brick company even underwrote the project, at a cost of $5,000
for each of the minifigs, which will soon become the farthest flying
toys ever. The manufacture of the figures was a deliberate process to
ensure the figures would not interfere with NASA’s sensitive
measurements.

…

Upon arrival in July 2016, the space probe will collect data
on Jupiter, its moons and atmosphere. After orbiting the planet for a
year (about 33 orbits) and relaying its data, Juno will purposefully
de-orbit and crash into the planet’s surface. You can track Juno’s progress with the high-flying minifigs at LegoSpace.com.

Awesome. Although now I really want a Greek and Roman God Pantheon Lego set, please. Much thanks to HM1(FMF) Wagoner and Bob S. for the tip!