My wife accidentally rekindled my love of Lego last Christmas when she bought me the 3 in 1 Viking ship set #31132. Since then, I've become a complete Lego idiot and have taken over a corner of one of the rooms in our house displaying Lego sets that I've built.
Generally, I can almost sleep through the construction phase of building a set, but this one was just challenging enough to keep me awake.

The finished product is solid and fairly hefty. I'm not sure I'd play with it too much if I were a kid, only because some of the modules tend to sag under their own weight.

The parts were easy to find and assemble, though there are a few places where I might swap the order around a little, like when putting the coffee pot in the dining pod. I'd do that before putting the back wall in, but that might be because I tend to be a little fat-fingered from time to time.

There really isn't much else to tell.

The second-largest set of this amazing new space-series presents us with an all-new twist to the well-known concept of a space station. With a retail price of 100€ and almost 1100 pieces, the priece-per-piece ratio is OK. Now, three weeks after its launch, there are already discounts as low as 70€ available, which is an absolute bargain! Especially for a set this cool and full of features!

Parts

Now this set provides us with quite some interesting parts. For example, there are several printed solar panels, smaller ones and large ones, frames and rails in reddish orange, gear racks, which, in this color, are unique to this set, several transparent and non-transparent windows and roof tiles and the usual printed tiles. Also, some interesting parts recycling was done with four black magic wands, which serve as pieces of a sensor array!
With this being a larger set, we also see the return of stickers to this series. There are 15 stickers overall, which seems a lot, but, to me, is an OK amount judging by the size of the set.

Minifigures

Six unique minifigures come with this set. We have three male and three female astronauts, two have light green accessory, one has a dark green helmet, two have light blue gear and one has heavy light orange armor. Their torsos have prints on both back and front, the legs have prints on the front. There is even more additional gear for the minifigures, such as several tools, a drill, a cup, a basecap, small solar panels and some vegetables.
A brick-built robot can be counted as a seventh minifigure, if you so wish.

The build

The instructions for this larger set are split into no less than six booklets!
The first booklet covers the "tractor" vehicle, seen in the lower right section of the picture.
The second one has the instructions for building the circular main structure of the space station. There are some sections where you have to be accurate while building, but all in all, it's rather repetitive, and therefore not THAT difficult.
The third booklet covers the first of the modules, which is the recreation module.
Booklet number four covers the "energy center" with the large solar panels and the satellite dish, as well as the small greenhouse.
The fifth and sixth booklets cover the remaining three modules, as well as the docking station for the small space bike.
Building the modules is a rather repetitive process, since all of them have an identical structure. The most complex part of the build is, as mentioned above, the main structure. If you're not in a hurry and use the building time to relax, it should take you a good hour to build this set.

The completed model

Even though the finished model turned out a little smaller than I expected, it still has a remarkable size. I'll split the description into several sections.
The main ring: it has a diameter of 19 cm (7.5 inch), from one module across to another, it has almost 40 cm (>15 inch). The space station can be lifted by grabbing the two-studs-wide main axis, which is very sturdy. The smaller golden axis has only decorative value. On the underside of the main ring are propulsion devices, two underneath each of the four main anchor points, and one underneath the other four docking points. The center has two concealed connector plates, where the greenhouse can alternatively be attached.
The modules: each of the four modules has an identical structure with orange docking rings to each end and windows to at least one side. Two of them have a transparent roof, the other two don't. The ones with the see-through roof are a recreation module with a bed and a place to put the space suit, and a lab module with some research gear. The other two modules contain a workshop with some tools and a canteen with some food and drinks.
The "special" modules: the other four detachable parts are: an energy station with (printed) solar panels, a docking and charging station for the smaller space vehicle, a small greenhouse with a large transparent dome roof and some vegetables inside, and the "tractor" vehicle with an opening cockpit and several energy cells. All four of the "regular" modules can be attached to each other and to the "tractor" via Technic connectors (the ones that also link them to the main ring) and a black brick to form some sort of "space bus" or cargo ship.
There is no special order of where the different modules and other parts have to be attached, the space station is completely flexible in its design.

Overall opinion

As mentioned in the introduction, this set has an all-new approach to the concept of a space-station. And, while the build of the four modules is rather boring and repetitive, the design of the main ring, the high flexibility in arranging everything and the incredible range of playability make this an absolute stand-out set among all other space-themed sets of today and the past. Just this set alone has so many features and different options on how to play, create different stories, scenarios and action-packed hours of adventure. Combined with other sets from this series, especially the 60434 Space Base, the possibilities tend towards infinity!
Additionally, this set presents the esteemed MOCcer with some interesting parts, such as the aforementioned rails, solar panels and roof tiles. The new space explorer minifigures also look awesome with their colorful and printed space suits!
So, besides a little monotony in the build and some flaws in the quality of several bricks (scratched window pieces, especially!), I can't really find any negative points to this awesome set. And with prices already dropping steadily, I can only recommend: GET IT!

Thank you for bearing with me in this extensive review!