I always thought of Ice Planet as peaceful explorers. But the “satellite” looks more like a giant missile to me.

^ That's just what they wanted you to think.

Hey, it's a @TransNeonOrangeSpaceman!

This was my first and only Ice Planet set to come brand new. I acquired the complete pieces to several others (including Deep Freeze Defender), but they came in used condition with no box and instructions. Therefore, I look back fondly on the experience of opening and building Ice Sat V for the first time. Strangely, I recall it being a gift from an elderly neighbor across the street who had gotten to know our family modestly well over our first year in the neighborhood. I just remember my parents coming in the front door one day and plopping this set in front of me, saying it was a late birthday gift from Mr. ??? across the street. Never one to look gift Lego in the mouth, I got to work building it. Definitely loved the rocket and the launching mechanism on the back of the vehicle. This was also the first time I got those space wheels. And of course, I loved all the trans-neon elements!

Sadly, getting more new Ice Planet sets was out of the question. It was late 1995 or early 1996 when I got the Ice Sat V, so the theme was already around three years old. Even with longer shelf lifecycles back in the 90s, Ice Planet didn't seem to stick around. A shame, really. Even greater shame was seeing how badly sunlight discolored a lot of the white pieces in this set by the time my family moved in 2003. It now looks as used as the other Ice Planet sets I came across later. Part of me wants to tackle the major task of refurbishing the white pieces, but another part of me is lazy, and hopes I might come across some windfall of like-new replacement parts. Time will tell.

Looks like a precursor to Nexo Knights.

Sadly I got into this as a kid 2 years too late. As @Lego_Lord_Mayorca said, the shelf life and being a young kid, plus no internet LOL, it was hard to track older sets per say. I got one of the tiny one, I remember loving the helmets.

I miss the 90's

Yeah! This was THE Lego Space at it's finest. It's sad, that they don't do anything like this anymore. I can only hope that they re-surrect the 90s space at some point, I would buy everything for sure.

@HobbyBros
LOL

@natro220 well because it technically is. the actual satellite bit is that spindly thing with all the lever pieces on it, the big tube being carried around is the rocket intended to get that satellite up into orbit.

One of the first Ice Planet sets I ever received. It just looks so cool sitting there, with the curved windscreen and long chassis supported by 10 wheels. I always thought it was odd that the Ice Planet vehicles were wheeled rather than tracked for snow operations, but I guess those big plastic wheels were the "it" part back in the day...redesign this theme with today's track part designs and it would be a nice modern refresh for the theme. But with all the recent City Arctic themes, I doubt we'll see the same in a Space theme anytime soon. Love the Ice Planet theme, thanks Huwbot!

Pretty sure this was my first LEGO Space set! I remember building it at Sweet Briar College (my mom's alma mater) when we accompanied her to a reunion. I remember vividly how even though the room we were staying in was dark and kind of small, it didn't mask the glow of those those Tr. Flu. Reddish Orange pieces!

That said, I wasn't ever really passionate about the Ice Planet 2002 subtheme in particular, and don't think I ever got any other Ice Planet sets except possibly 6814-1. I ended up being a lot more excited for the flying saucers and robots of Spyrius (which I suppose either foreshadowed or helped inspire my later interest in themes like Bionicle, Exo-Force, and Ninjago) and the high-tech submarines and feuding factions of Aquazone.

I do think it would be interesting to see another sci-fi leaning theme with an emphasis on mining or excavation in an icy environment. When Power Miners moved on to a magma-based environment in its second year, there was a part of me that couldn't help but fantasize about similar sets in an icy environment, thereby completing the trifecta of biomes from the old Rock Raiders computer game! And there are certainly a lot of cool saw elements these days that would be awesome to see lit up with a warm orange glow like those Ice Planet chainsaws…

@natro220: In this particular case, I think the inclusion of a fairly innocuous looking satellite/probe to mount atop the rocket, as illustrated on the back of the instruction manual, helps to establish peaceful (or at least, non-destructive) intent.

By comparison, I could much more easily imagine the rocket from 6959-1 functioning as a guided ballistic missile, considering it has no detachable payload and appears to have radio antennae on the missile itself.

And then there are Classic Space sets like 6881-1 with an adjustable angle of fire that seems to be inspired by Cold War era truck-mounted rocket launchers! Such mechanisms hardly seem necessary if the objective is putting a rocket or payload into space, rather than firing at a planetary or atmospheric target…