While we’ve had plenty of science fiction themes and fantasy space ships over the past few years, it’s been a while since we got a dose of good old-fashioned realistic Space sets. But this summer, LEGO is giving aspiring astronauts (and those who just aspire to build astronauts) the royal treatment with a whole range of Summer 2015 LEGO Space sets! And the headliner of the theme debuted at New York Toy Fair 2015– the large and impressive LEGO Spaceport 60080!

While we have some enormous mass-release LEGO sets coming out this summer that preclude the Spaceport from being this year’s most expensive mass-release, it’s still a pretty big (and pricy!) set.

Everything you’ll need to recreate your own brick-built space shuttle launch is included here: from the orbiter space shuttle to house the astronauts, to the solid rocket boosters to provide the shuttle’s initial lift and the large external tank that houses the engines’ fuel! For collectors wanting to begin a grandiose space launch diorama, this set is basically a must-have.

In addition to the main portions of the Space Shuttle itself, it includes a ground transportation jeep, a free-standing satellite dish and (my favorite part) even an authentic-looking space shuttle countdown clock! These are some clever pieces to add to really help create the illusion of a shuttle launch environment.

The LEGO Space Exploration Spaceport set includes five minifigures: two astronauts minifigures, two ground support crew figures and a space flight controller minifigure (all of which being generic names I made up for the minifigures–LEGO will release official ones later on).

The ground crew and astronaut minifigures are pretty plain, but it is exciting to see that (presumably) the bigwig in charge of the space flight is a female scientist minifigure! Great choice, LEGO!

Now we come to the part that’s going to raise a lot of eyebrows–the price-tag on the 60080 Spaceport LEGO set: $119.99. On paper, $120 for a set containing 586 pieces is astronomical (no pun intended). That’s over 20 cents per piece and overtly one of the worst value I’ve ever seen for a LEGO City set.

That said, it has to be taken into consideration that the LEGO Space Port contains pieces that are far larger and more specialized than you find in your typical LEGO City set. Does that justify an average cost of over 20 cents per piece? I really don’t know. I imagine price is going to be a real sticking point among collectors on this particular LEGO City Space 2015 set.

The price on this set is definitely scaring me a bit, but as I am shamefully lacking a large and realistic LEGO Space Shuttle like this one in my collection, I’ll definitely be watching for a good sale on this set when it launches in the summer.

The LEGO 60080 Spaceport sort is scheduled to arrive in stores in August 2015 (though we’ll undoubtably see some stores receive the set in July 2014), along with the rest of the 2015 LEGO Space sets.

How do you feel about the 60080 LEGO Spaceport set, Space fans? Does this centerpiece set of the new Space theme impress you enough to earn your 120 dollars, or will you be opting out for this high-priced LEGO Space Port?