They were tired of having their crushes stolen from them and now they're fighting back...

This was one of the first "old" sets I bought used for my kids back in the day. I bought it from a fellow who had it as a kid, as well as his yellow castle, train and other classic space. Now, we have several of those printed panels that look more like a poster than a display screen and despite having a few partial to near complete copies of this set from bulk bins, those aerials and flags are often missing!

This is also one of the few classic space sets I can remember (without checking) having any significant amount of regular yellow bricks.

I was watching Beyond the Brick’s new YouTube video uploaded today of The Jang’s city update. He uses these same (I think so) crater base plates in his underwater diorama. It’s so fantastic and he’s done a great job.

I'm in the same boat/shuttle as honbushu , as I knew someone that had it.
Things I dug the most:
-The BIG 'video screen' on the one wall...or is that 'as' the one wall...?
-Also, the monorail...with no wheels...but it was a start:).

Missed out on this one in my formative years.

I recognise some parts from my collection. My Dad *may* have owned this.

A monorail that goes maybe five metres seems excessive. I could understand if it was for carrying freight or cargo, things you'd struggle to lift or carry, but that's clearly only got seats for people. A short walk and a ladder really too much for you guys?

Yup, clearly the Bèta to the Alpha One base. Not that that's bad or anything. It just means they did the calculations on whether they 'could' design a monorail, not if they 'should'.

I like that there's amenities like chairs and beds. And that flag!

One of my first Classic Space sets when I was a kid. I usually only got the smaller ones back in the day, so this was even greater when it lay under the Christmas tree.
Happy memories.

@Binnekamp said:
"Yup, clearly the Bèta to the Alpha One base. Not that that's bad or anything. It just means they did the calculations on whether they 'could' design a monorail, not if they 'should'.

I like that there's amenities like chairs and beds. And that flag!"

I like this much better than the Alpha.

See, @Harmonious_Building there's always someone for everyone. Crushes never work out- by definition. Love isn't what you desire, it's what you give! ;)

Ben to a LEGO trade meeting (con?) this weekend where they had a CS display. They had two of those and prolonged the tracks between them over six baseplates of length =).
Sadly, they wouldn't sell one of them.

I like Classic sets beacuse they are not overly flashy, most of them even have this lived-in feeling.

My second LEGO Space set (after 886, which my Nan bought me after a bingo win!) - fantastic set.

Pure awesomeness!

Beautiful set! I had this as a young child.
Rebuilt it a few years back, and sold it for a pretty penny a couple years ago.

I used to rebuild my space bases (all 2 of them) with walls on all sides, so the guys can chill. Hardest one was 6987 because I didn't have enough black or yellow pieces, so I ended up using castle walls.

Missed out on this as 264 pieces for $37 (£25) was too expensive at the time for my parents, but looking back I should have negotiated as only really paying around $22 (£15) if take out the price of the $15 (£10) double baseplates, which does not seem so bad for the huge playability when combined with other sets!

Under other images at 6970 there's a great panoramic picture of this with other spaceships overhead on page 15 of the 1981 catalogue.

Classic great set.

Beta I Command the Base? No, it's Beta YOU Command the Base, I don't know anything about this!

This is such a wonderful set. It took me some time to find one in good shape. Especially the flag and the trans-yellow parts are often damaged or missing. But I got one in the end and it's one of the prize sets of my (complete) Classic Space collection. :-)

I do miss base plates in sets these days though.

Possibly my all-time favourite set. Brings back many happy memories of Christmas '81.

It’s my first set I remember having as a 5 year old back in 1980. Loved it!

6971 is a glorified rocket launchpad, it's more of a successor to 483 than to this one (don't get me wrong, it's still a nice set, just not a great command base). Our favorite classic spacemen can easily monitor all of the space base functions from Beta I's command center, in between naps...

Small? There are two baseplates! It didn't get much bigger than this in all of Classic Space! (monorail sets excluded.). To be fair, if this base were really built to scale, it would be an area of about 6x10 of those crater plates with a long transport car rail to the spaceship launcher, and probably a few landing plates within the perimeter as well. And the building would be 4-5x the size and 2-3 stories tall. But like all official sets from the 80's and 90's it's built to "LEGO scale"; imagination required!

For me, this is the flagship set of the line along with 497 .

Might have been my very first set (I think…)…. Half the parts are now missing and the spacemen don’t have faces, but I’m still super nostalgic for the pieces I still have. I’d love to reassemble it, but I shudder to think what that flag runs for these days…!

I like the look of that ship: it is a tail-less, completely delta-winged version of 6861. Both of these rocketships look to be built purely for speed, with dual giant engines dominating their designs!

I dream in stereo, the stereo sounds strange...

My favorite set ever! I got this as a birthday gift when i was 6. Craterplates, the little rover, the monorail and the printed tv-screen!!! And I loved the shuttle, just a seat with two huge rockets attached to fly around. Must be the fastest spaceship ever.

Yup, for me, the best Classic Space set ever. Still have mine, which started me off on collecting all the rest of those early Space sets.
Baseplates, a base, that huge, cool, printed brick, a monorail (though tiny!), a buggy and a spaceship, all in one. What's not to love? ;-)

My dad's childhood favorite, and one I admired too growing up.

One of my most coveted sets since youth, surpassed by few others (notably the original Galaxy Explorer, of course). Oh, how I yearned for this (and still do!).

@ao_ka said:
"Modern Space figure and the Classic Space set... Good bot.

I own its sucessor, 6971, one of my favorite CS sets. I hope to get that one in the future too, same for 493. However, 6972 is higher in priority for me at the moment, in case I have to choose between the three..."
I had 493-1 back in the day! Sadly (or happily depending on your point of view), it went to a family that couldn’t afford LEGO at some point in the ‘80s.

Located at a major hyperspace junction, Beta 1 features a lounge with sleeping quarters, which can easily serve as a hospital in emergency situations.

I modded mine by replacing the old toothed rail pieces with tiles and plates of the equivalent thickness, to eliminate any potential sawing into the monorail cart's bottom plate.

The hundreds of hours I whiled away as a kid building and rebuilding this set and blasting the spaceship. oh the memories, definitely one of my favourite sets.

This was it! 6970 was the crown jewel of my original childhood LEGO space collection. For whatever reason, I missed out on sets like 497, but Beta I Command Base brought me hours of enjoyment as a kid. I still have (most of?) the original parts, though they are well-loved and much played with.

I had the big panel in my collection from when I was little. Pieced the rest together as an AFOL a couple of years ago. (Maybe I shouldn't have asked the Blacktrons for help, because the spaceship came out black and yellow).

I can't believe nobody has said this yet:

SPACESHIP!!!

Don't forget: all your beta base are belong to us.

Only 264 pieces ! This is amazing how large it was, and the playability was great. A base, a space ship, a rover, a monorail ! What an incredible set.

My godmother gave me this one at the time, completing the 920-2 . In 1985 my puppy bite the large window and the large computer screen. but I kept these precious parts and rebuilt my set in 2017 with the puppy's teethmarks. Of course, the large antenna is missing, but not my flag, never lost.

Almost forgot two more things I liked:
-Crater plates...HEY TLG, make baseplates again; and make some of 'em more...interactive? Just look at the reaction that was seen when 'G.E. 2.0' was pictured w/a photoshopped crater plate in 'tan'/'sand'/Brick Yellow...tap in to that...
-That craft...I forgot about it, and how looking it now looks like a proto-6861 , which was one of my faves.:)

@Murdoch17: Because it's not; it's a Spacecraft, as per the 'ship vs. craft' nautical rule(s)...yeah, yeah I know: the rule(s) is(are?) hazy at best...

Unfortunately for me this was close to one of the last classic space sets I collected. I have most sets from the first two years of classic space in my collection with a smattering of a few sets thereafter. This set was one of my favorites next to the 497 Galaxy Explorer. Not too long ago I had it out for a rebuild. I still have my set in its original box with all the inserts. Along with it I also have the old space service pack of blue elements that contained the alternate 5x6 printed block screen ( I believe the one in the set is a picture of a rocket launch and the other is a satellite/planet scene ). An awesome set from an even more awesome time.

I had this as a kid, but I would have been 5 when it released. I suspect I got it when I was... 8? Did Lego sets have much longer shelf lives back then?

@Padmewan said:
"I had this as a kid, but I would have been 5 when it released. I suspect I got it when I was... 8? Did Lego sets have much longer shelf lives back then?"

I think I got my copy for Christmas '82. But I think the answer is yes. In those days, inventory seemed to sit around for a while longer than we are used to these days. The pressure to switch out inventory for the "new hotness" was not quite as intense in those days. Of course, at that age, a week seemed like an eternity, so that could also be a factor.