Film
The 7 Star Wars spaceships that made you dream
Let’s take a look at the spacecrafts that captured our imagination in the Star Wars saga.
Finally the wait is over and we've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We sat holding a big bag of popcorn with some guys dressed up like Yoda and Luke Skywalker nearby, and we had a hell of a time enjoying the most famous characters in the galaxy, along with their unbelievable spacecrafts.
Among all the artefacts, there was one that blew our minds away: the new Death Star. At 900km in diameter, it was much bigger than the previous mobile battle station constructed by the Galactic Empire. Let’s take a look at the different ships from the Star Wars saga, starting with the smallest one.
TIE Fighter
TIE Fighter
© starwars.ea.com
Length: 6m
The TIE was the standard Imperial starfighter seen in huge numbers throughout most of the Galactic Civil War and onward. It was the fastest in the galaxy, with a maximum atmospheric speed of 1200kph. It could take up to two pilots.
X-Wing
X-Wing
© starwars.ea.com
Length: 12m
The T-65 X-Wing has an almost perfect balance of speed, manoeuvrability, and defensive shielding which make it the fighter of choice for the Rebel Alliance. It is not as fast as a TIE fighter but has a better autonomy – up to a week – and it takes more cargo. The crew is made up of one pilot and one astromech droid.
Millennium Falcon
Millennium Falcon
© Getty Images
Length: 34m.
“She’s the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy!” The Millennium Falcon was a light freighter used by the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca. Its aged appearance belied numerous advanced modifications to boost the ship’s speed, weapons and shield. With a cargo capacity of 100 metric tonnes it can take up to six passengers.
Destroyer
Destroyer
© starwars.ea.com
Length: 1,600m
These vessels are very effective, and not just because of their firepower, but also their sheer size. Armed with turbolasers, ion cannons and tractor beam projectors, it carries 72 TIE fighters and numerous ground forces, including stormtroopers.
Droid Control Ship
Droid Control Ship
© starwars.ea.com
Length: 3,170m
Droid Control Ships were used to coordinate battle droid armies on planetary surfaces. The ship was similar in appearance to the standard Lucrehulk-class battleship, with 1,500 Vulture droid starfighters ready to fight the enemy. Anakin Skywalker destroyed a Droid Control Ship and ensured a Naboo victory.
Executor
Executor
© starwars.ea.com
Length: 19,000m
The Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor was the personal flagship of Lord Darth Vader and one of the largest and most powerful Imperial vessels ever constructed. With more than 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons, it could wipe out a part of a planet in a few hours. It carried up to 50,000 ground forces.
Death Star
Death Star
© starwars.ea.com
Length: 160km
“That’s no moon… it’s a space station,” said Obi Wan Kenobi. The Death Star was a moon-sized deep space mobile battle station constructed by the Galactic Empire. It boasted a superlaser weapon with sufficient firepower to destroy an entire planet. The DS1 had a crew of 265,675, as well as 52,276 gunners, 607,360 troops, 30,984 stormtroopers, 42,782 ship support staff and 180,216 pilots and workers.
Students at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania worked out how much it would cost to build the Death Star and came up with a figure of $8.1 quadrillion! How much is that? About 13,000 times the world’s GDP. It would take 5,000 million years to complete the work and by that time the Sun would be a white dwarf.
