The Class-6 escape pod was a standard emergency craft created by Corellian Engineering Corporation and used on many of their designs, such as the CR90 corvette.
Characteristics[]

Class-6 escape pod schematics.
The Class-6 escape pod was equipped with four escape thrusters, and several maneuvering thrusters positioned around the pod.
Each pod could carry up to six individuals and was fitted with a viewscreen connected to externally mounted holocameras.
The escape pod was designed to accommodate only living passengers.[2]
History[]
During the first battle of Tatooine in the Galactic Civil War, the Corellian corvette Tantive IV was captured and boarded by the Imperials. Meanwhile, R2-D2 — the astromech droid onboard, who carried the stolen plans of the first Death Star — overrode a Class-6 escape pod's computer to allow mechanicals to enter. R2-D2 and C-3PO, his protocol droid companion escaped the beleaguered Tantive IV in the pod and crash landed on Tatooine with it.[2]

Desert Sands, looking for the two droids, find the escape pod on Tatooine.
Imperial escort carriers utilized by Storm commandos also carried Class-6 escape pods, or another escape pod of a similar make.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
The escape pod model constructed for A New Hope was built by Industrial Light & Magic in one week. It was a rush job that consisted of two one-gallon paper paint buckets stuck on top of each other. The top one was truncated, but the bottom one was left whole. Lorne Peterson was one of the modelmakers involved with this project.
During the Wedge Campaign mission Relics of Geonosis, several escape pods were seen ejected from Sarkli Piett's Imperial escort carrier and littered around on Geonosis that were given a similar design to the Class-6 escape pods, although it was not made clear if they were intended to be Class-6.
Star Wars Screen Entertainment and Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 31 states that the escape pods that appear in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope are not in fact class-6 escape pods, but are instead Faberstien-Lago 37s emergency escape pods; however, this fact has not been repeated in any subsequent source.
Appearances[]
- Empire 8
- Star Wars Journal: Captive to Evil
- Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- Star Wars: A New Hope novelization (and unabridged audiobook) (First appearance, in book)
- Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope junior novelization
- Super Star Wars
- Star Wars (1977) 1 (recolorized in Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 1: Doomworld and Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope)
- Droids (1986) 6
- "When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale" — Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (Non-canonical appearance)
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
- Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
- The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader (Indirect mention only)
Non-canon appearances[]
Sources[]
1977 Topps Star Wars Series 3 Card: The Escape Pod is jettisoned! (backup link)
- Artoo Detoo's Activity Book
Kenner's Star Wars toy line (Pack: Land of the Jawas playset) (backup link)
- Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (Picture only)
- The Star Wars Sourcebook (Picture only)
- The Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition (Picture only)
- Star Wars Screen Entertainment
- Star Wars Technical Journal of the Rebel Forces (as Corellian Corvette Escape Pod)
Star Wars Customizable Card Game — Premiere Limited Card: Escape Pod) (backup link
- The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
- Star Wars: The Action Figure Archive
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide
Episode IV Visual Guide — Chapter 4: Artoo's Mission on StarWars.com (original site is defunct)
- Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual (Picture only)
Star Wars: The Card Game — Edge of Darkness Card: The Tatooine Crash (Picture only)
Notes and references[]
External links[]
Hyperspace Celebrity Talk with Lorne Peterson on the StarWars.com Message Boards (content obsolete and backup link not available)