Denmark's 1st person in space brings along 20 Lego astronauts

The Russianrocket that tooka new crewincluding Denmark's first astronautto the International Space Stationthismorning also carrieda gift from the country's most famous brand: 20 Lego mini-figures.

The little plastic astronauts will be prizes in a contest for Danish schoolchildren to produce videos about the country's mission in space,and share them on YouTube.

"ESA and Lego Education have partnered together for this mission, and among other things, we are running a competition for Danish schoolchildren to tell a story about my mission using Legos," astronautAndreas Mogensensaid in a Reddit "ask me anything" interview.

"The 20 Lego mini-figures are part of the educational outreach and is one way that we hope to connect with younger children," he said.

One of the toy astronauts has already made an appearance onMogensen'sTwitter feed during pre-launch preparations aboard theSoyuz in April.

Another was launched on a rocket in March, although it was a much more modest rocket than the one that carried Mogenseninto orbit.

This isn't the first time Legobricks have made it to space. Japanese astronautSatoshi Furukawa built a Lego model of the ISS on the station itselfin 2012.

Three ISS crew members who were aboard earlier this year took customizedLego mini-figure versions of themselves created by theU.K.-based company Minifigs.me.