NASA Shuttle to Launch Luke's LightsaberAugust 27, 2007 — When the space shuttle Discovery launches the STS-120 crew in October, the force will be with them.
Stowed on-board the orbiter, in addition to a new module for the international space station, will be the original prop lightsaber used by actor Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in the 1983 movie "Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi". The laser-like weapon is being flown to the orbiting outpost and back in honor of the 30th anniversary of the George Lucas-created franchise.
Click here for pictures from the Houston arrival of Luke's lightsaber and its departure for the space center.
Before it can make its trip to orbit though, the lightsaber will first fly to Houston, Texas, home of NASA's Johnson Space Center, by way of Southwest Airlines and a Star Wars-studded send off from Oakland International Airport in California on Tuesday.
This is a bit of cute news. Somehow, I think that NASA should be worrying about bigger things than bringing lightsabers aboard but this *is* a fun thing to do. It seems that someone in the government REALLY loves Star Wars. I remember last year they sent Star Wars action figures up into space. This year we got special stamps and now *the* lightsaber is taking a trip. Star Trek gets no such love. Poor Scotty can't even get his ashes released into space.
NASA Shuttle to Launch Luke's Lightsaber
2 comments:
Well this is what I call a waste of shuttle space. Why oh why they think this is something worth while to do.
Oh come on!!! You don't want to have a light saber that's actually been on the final frontier. :D
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