Star Wars characters and lightsaber land in Houston

(8/28/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- You don't often get off a plane and run into the likes of Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers, but that's just what happened to Hobby Airport passengers Tuesday afternoon.

The members of the Empire weren't searching for members of the rebellion. Instead they were there to collect Luke Skywalker's original lightsaber which is set to fly up in space with the Discovery astronauts.

The Southwest Airlines terminal was filled with Star Wars characters like the Emperor's second in command, bounty hunters including Boba Fett and droids like R2-D2. They were all waiting for the precious cargo set to arrive from Lucasfilm in California.

Stunned passengers pulled out their cameras and started snapping away, not really sure what they were taking pictures of.

Once the lightsaber landed in Houston, the members of the Star Wars galaxy ushered the Jedi weapon outside to a fleet of waiting Hummers. From there it was escorted by Webster police officers to a lunar vault at NASA's Space Center Houston.

The lightsaber will be sent into space with the NASA Astronauts on the Shuttle Discovery which is set to launch October 23. The crew will then take the prop to the International Space Station.

The entire galactic adventure celebrates the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•