Luke's Lightsaber Heads Into Space

Post by **Dwootan** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 12:22 pm

I found this on the SciFi Channel's website... does anyone know if the 501st is involved?

"The original prop of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber from the first Star Wars movie will be sent into space aboard the space shuttle Discovery in October to commemorate the film franchise's 30th anniversary, according to a joint announcement from Lucasfilm, the Space Center Houston and Southwest Airlines on Aug. 27.

The prop will be flown to Houston on Aug. 28 from its current home at Lucasfilm headquarters in Northern California.

An actor dressed as Chewbacca will hand the lightsaber over to representatives from NASA's Space Center Houston during a ceremony at Oakland International Airport.

Upon landing in Houston, the lightsaber will be escorted by costumed stormtroopers, alongside R2-D2 and other Star Wars characters, to a caravan of Hummers with a police escort. It will be transported for safekeeping to NASA's Space Center Houston, where it will be secured inside the vault once used to store samples from the moon until it is ready for its trip into space."

Post by **mrivorey** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:58 pm

Dwootan wrote:Upon landing in Houston, the lightsaber will be escorted by costumed stormtroopers...

Well, considering we have more stormtroopers in Texas than LucasFilm does, I'm gonna guess that Star Garrison members are smiling from ear to ear right now.

Drago Lordist · Post by **Drago Lordist** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:13 pm

hopefully they can distract the guards long enough to get a shitload of reference shots lol

Post by **Dwootan** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:42 pm

There are pictures of the event on the Star Wars website. It looks like the original press release had a typo... it's the ROTJ lightsaber, not the Graflex.

Here's the link if you're interested:

http://starwarsblog.wordpress.com/2007/ ... r-to-nasa/

Enjoy !!!

TK1423 · Post by **TK1423** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:44 am

I personally know the guy who was holding the lightsaber, Ian; I had dinner with him and his wife in Houston back in April. Great guy and cool wife! I am going down to Dallas in October and going to have lunch with two other members of the Star Garrison. Ian told he wished he could drive up to Dallas to visit with me but he has to work.

TK1423 · Post by **TK1423** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:49 am

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-082807a.html

darth_runya · Post by **darth_runya** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:48 pm

So Luke's saber took off today at 11:38 am... Do you think they timed that on purpose?

Luke's Lightsaber Heads Into Space

Luke's Lightsaber Heads Into Space

Re: Luke's Lightsaber Heads Into Space