Destruction of Despayre The Destruction of Despayre was a cataclysmic event that occurred in 0 BBY , following the attack on the first Death Star . The prison planet Despayre was the final construction site of the first Death Star , where assembly of the space station ' s superlaser took place . After discovery of the site by the Alliance to Restore the Republic , the project ' s leader , Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin , decided to move the station . The interior was near completion and the hyperdrive was functional , but the Grand Moff decided it was necessary to test the superlaser before getting under way . A proper test firing required a terrestrial world , and the penal colony was the only suitable location in sublight range . Tarkin decided without hesitation to sacrifice Despayre , and a few days before the Battle of Yavin , the planet was destroyed . The destruction of Despayre was one of only three recorded uses of the Death Star ' s superlaser . The incident caused a shift in the gravitational configuration of the Horuz system , and was a major wound in the Force , as millions of lives were terminated almost instantly . The shock was felt by Force - sensitives , both trained and untrained . History . Preparation . For approximately two years , the DS - 1 Orbital Battle Station , more commonly known as the Death Star , had undergone construction in orbit of the penal colony world of Despayre , a site chosen for its location in a distant corner of the Outer Rim Territories where the Imperial Senate and HoloNet media would be unlikely to observe . Slaves from all over the galaxy had labored long and hard in order to finish construction on Emperor Palpatine ' s newest superweapon . Leading up to 0 BBY , the Alliance to Restore the Republic launched progressively grander efforts to stall the project . The Rebels captured the frigate " Priam " to learn the location of the construction site , and then sent the " Lucrehulk " - class carrier " Fortressa " on a mission to destroy the Death Star , which led to the first operational use of the station ' s superlaser — bringing a swift end to the Rebel assault . Following this , Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin , the overall leader of the Death Star project , made the decision to relocate the station . Admiral Conan Antonio Motti , the station ' s operational commander , concurred . However , Tarkin wished to test the functionality of the superlaser in a more controlled fashion than its first firing . Tarkin himself chose the site for the superlaser ' s first controlled test . The Horuz system had been largely emptied by the construction project ' s resource - gathering efforts , leaving Despayre itself as the only suitable target within sublight range . The decision stunned personnel across the entire station , from Superlaser Fire Control to Admiral Motti himself . But ultimately , the decision was Tarkin ' s , and no one sought to challenge it . In fact , Tarkin had long predicted that Despayre was doomed anyway , as a cloud of industrial debris was already benighting the planet and would have remained in orbit long after the construction ended . When Tarkin made the decision to move the station , the Death Star ' s engineering division wasn ' t quite prepared for a full - power discharge from the superlaser ' s main capacitors . A 33 % charge was the best they were willing or able to manage . They knew 4 % power was sufficient to destroy a " Lucrehulk " - class battleship , but no one could be certain what kind of damage the superlaser could inflict at one - third of its full capacity . What was certain , however , was that even at that strength , the first shot would kill millions of prisoners . The duty of firing the shot fell to Tenn Graneet , the chief of the gunnery crew for that shift . The commanding officer of Superlaser Fire Control was willing to allow alternate shift leaders Beller or Reshias to substitute for Graneet , but ultimately Graneet chose carry out the order himself . As Tarkin considered any non - essential personnel a security risk , anyone whose usefulness ended with the termination of construction was shuttled to the planet . Prisoner work crews were returned to their compounds , and construction supervisors and other personnel were transported back to Despayre as well . As they awaited reassignment , they were unaware of their impending demise . One of those prisoners was Rianna Saren , a Twi ' lek mercenary captured by the Zabrak slaver Zarien Kheev on the planet Tatooine . After being brought to the planet , however , Saren quickly orchestrated her escape . Using her secret weapon , a spring - knife called the Thorn of Ryloth , she killed the stormtroopers guarding her and tried to find a way off planet . Saren soon found her droid companion , Zeeo , in a trash compactor and met another Twi ' lek slave , who informed her about a nearby air duct , which could be used in her escape . After surviving an encounter with a probe droid , Saren and Zeeo reached the surface of Despayre through the air duct and saw the Death Star orbiting the planet . After killing some scout troopers stationed on the surface , the Twi ' lek stole a speeder bike and flew it to the landing pad used by " Lambda " - class shuttles , which carried Imperial personnel and supplies to and off planet . On the landing pad , Saren once again encountered Kheev , who shot at Zeeo before escaping on one of the shuttles . Not willing to stop her pursuit of Kheev , Saren , along with her droid , hid in a shipment crate , which was picked up by another shuttle and was then brought to the Death Star itself . After reaching the Death Star , Saren continued her search for Kheev , defeating many stormtroopers and another probe droid along the way . Destruction . The first one - third power shot from the superlaser was a planet - killer in itself . Though it didn ' t physically destroy Despayre , it did terminate all life on the surface . The atmosphere itself became a massive firestorm , and the planet ' s ground became unstable from the blast . The tectonic plates shifted , causing massive waves in the planet ' s oceans and extreme volcanic activity . Tarkin was pleased with the results . When Motti questioned the destruction of one of the Empire ' s primary prison colonies , Tarkin dismissed it with the expectation that the Empire would employ the death penalty more frequently . One hour and fifteen minutes after the first shot , the Death Star fired a second time . This shot further intensified the seismic effects , causing mountains to rise and fall in a matter of minutes and the surface to be covered with oceans of lava . Despayre had gone from a verdant world of deep green , broken by rivers and seas , to a lifeless sphere of red . The final shot was fired one hour and nineteen minutes after the second . When the final shot hit , Despayre shattered into billions of fragments ranging from pebble - to mountain - sized . The planet no longer existed as a single entity in terms of the star system ' s gravitational configuration . The Death Star itself recorded the impact of thousands of fragments against the station ' s shields , none of which caused damage worth mentioning . At the same time , Rianna Saren had at last found Kheev , who had been talking to Darth Vader . Hiding in the shadows , the Twi ' lek overheard as Vader ordered Kheev to leave for the planet Danuta with the updated battle station plans , which had been requested by the engineers there . After witnessing the destruction of Despayre first - hand , Saren decided to inform the Rebellion about the Death Star and the threat it presented . Aftermath . Aboard the Death Star , untrained Force - sensitive Nova Stihl awoke screaming . Darth Vader felt the planet ' s destruction while the " Devastator " , his flagship Star Destroyer , was in hyperspace en route to the construction site . He knew only that it was a terrible wound in the Force , until the ship dropped out of hyperspace and saw the expanding debris field on its scopes . The planet had been home to countless plant and animal species , and was the only habitable world in the Horuz system . Any native species that had not been transplanted would have been exterminated . Some personnel aboard the Death Star , civilian contractors especially , were shocked . Others , especially military personnel whose careers were heavily invested in the project , like Admiral Motti , considered the planet ' s destruction to be vindication of their faith in the project . Meanwhile , Rianna Saren managed to reach Death Star ' s communication center and contacted Princess Leia Organa , one of the major supporters of the Rebellion . Saren informed the Rebel Alliance about the battle station ' s destructive capabilities and , realizing that the Empire was her true enemy , not Kheev , asked Organa to send her to Danuta along with the other Rebel agents to steal the battle station plans . After that , Saren and Zeeo escaped the Death Star using a stolen Imperial ship . Little did Saren know that near the same time , the Rebel Alliance had sent ships to follow up after the ill - fated " Fortressa " . However , when Rebel forces comprising the two CR90 corvettes of " Ethar " group arrived in the region , they found only the planet ' s remains . The Death Star was absent and the Rebels were captured by the Imperials that remained in the system . It was only thanks to the skills of Rebel pilot Keyan Farlander that those ships were later retrieved by the Alliance . The destruction of Despayre provided the operational testing necessary for the engineering division to clear the superlaser for full - power operation , and a short time later a single shot at full capacity would be used to destroy the planet Alderaan . Behind the scenes . The location of the Death Star ' s construction around Despayre was first mentioned in the " Death Star Technical Companion " in 1991 , and that mention was followed by the depiction of Despayre ' s destruction in " " in 1992 , where a single blast of the superlaser was shown destroying the planet . The planet itself was mentioned again in several works but no mention was made of the planet ' s demise . It was not until the " Death Star " novel that the event was recorded in more detail than the initial depiction in " X - wing " . The three successive shots detailed in the novel provide an explanation for the planet ' s transformation from a verdant world as described in the " Death Star Technical Companion " , " Darksaber " , and the " Star Wars Encyclopedia " into a featureless red ball in the visual depiction in " X - wing " . Conversely , " Death Star " introduces a contradiction of its own in that Darth Vader was aboard the Death Star when the shot was fired in " X - wing " , but was aboard a ship en route to the Death Star when the final shot was fired in the novel , seeing the debris field on arrival . The Nintendo DS version of 2006 video game also shows Vader aboard the Death Star during the final shot . However , he appears in hologram in the PSP version . To further complicate the timeline , " Death Star " mentions the plans stolen from Danuta and shows Vader ' s capture of Princess Leia before the destruction , yet in Lethal Alliance Rianna Saren contacts the Princess after the destruction and informs her about the plans being held on Danuta . The single moon of Despayre , only visually depicted in " X - wing " , was not named until the release of " " , which identified it as " Haroon . " As no mention is made of the moon in the " Death Star " novel , the only source to chronicle Despayre ' s destruction in any significant detail , the fate of Haroon is not certain . As the Death Star was said to be able to " knock a moon out of orbit , " it was presumably destroyed or at least severely damaged and displaced by the blast . A mention in " " of " the shipyard that built the Death Star " by Booster Terrik , a generally well - connected and well - informed individual , would seem to indicate that the role of Despayre in the station ' s construction and the planet ' s destruction were not public knowledge . The game " " includes Despayre as an intact planet , despite starting immediately after the Battle of Yavin . The game was published in 1998 , well after " Star Wars : X - wing " , and lists Despayre as the construction site of the Death Star in the in - game encyclopedia , yet omits the planet ' s destruction .