This is how I ended up in aerospace... I had them all as a kid.

Real LEGO! I had many from this series as well when I was growing up. I particularly liked 6892 with the flip-up canopy.

SPACESHIPS!!!

80s space LEGO best LEGO.

I had several from... musta been a series or two before this. It's kinda funny in retrospect bc when I was really young we could only afford the really small boxes (top row) but as I got older I'd start getting the bigger boxes.

Better and cheaper than Star Wars, I loved those sets.

I had kit 6861, the X1 Patrol Craft as a kid. Loved it, played with it a lot. We got very few LEGO in my family so it was treasured. My cousins were rich and had tons of them. Fortunately they let us play with theirs when we'd visit.

6861

I had that one too! I loved it had the giant boosters on the back, it was a hoped up space go cart!

https://lego.brickinstructions.com/lego_instructions/set/6861/X1_Patrol_Craft

I don't recognize any of them, but I recognize that era. I had several of those sets (maybe some listed here, but I think probably from the year after this). I miss lego. I actually bought some "bulk" lego a while ago but I don't have the space to mess with it. I did pull it out a couple of times and built some very childish vehicles that made me happy, don't care they were childish. lol. Also discovered the joys of buying lego by the piece - not cheap, but I go so many transparant 1x1s for emergency lights... lol. I kinda fulfilled a bit fo childhood dream. :)

(I used to turn the 1x1 red and blues diagonally to indicate they were supposed to be on. hehe)

I think I may have 6820, 6892, and 6951. At least, those are the ones that look most familiar. Most of my Lego sets were slightly newer, from the era where "Space" had diversified into "Futuron" and "Blacktron."

If it brings you joy its all good in my book!

I went next level, hit 35 bought a bunch of Lego for the same reasons and it was fun... for a bit. Then me being an engineer I was "Whats the next level of Lego"?

WELDING!

Got my certifications, got a MIG and its been pissing my neighbors off for years on the weekends. Well until they need something fixed, how the turn tables have turned eh?

don’t care they were childish

Bah! If it gets a kid's / your imagination rolling, AND it's fun, AND it's creative, then that's all that matters. Build your heart out. The process, the creativity, that's the point of it.

Pretty much every gift I give to kids is a creative toy. Big pile o' parts, and you explore and make whatever comes to mind. And whatever came to mind is exactly the right thing to be making.

Wasn't a lot of pieces, but it was enough to keep me entertained. Very few speciality pieces helped.

I do miss Lego from back when they refused to do brand deals. I have fond memories of this series they did in the 90's that was like, future ice planet? These:

I had the gamma-v

Still have it, technically, though the parts are scattered all to hell across two or three boxes of Lego stuff.

the "astro dasher" is giving "scooty puff jr" energy

"When I became a man I put away all childish things, including the fear of childishness and the need to be very grown-up" ~ C.S. Lewis

Oh wow, my cousin had the one in the bottom left corner. Awesome memories.

I had the one above it.

The space series was the best. It was literally the only legos that I wanted as a kid.

Same here, I don't think I ever got a set outside the Space Series.