Millennium Falcon

Screen shot from A New Hope depicting the Falcon

### Present for battles/events

Raid on Kessel, Secret mission to Tatooine, Battle of Yavin, Escape from Cloud City, Battle of Endor,  Liberation of Kashyyyk, Escape from Jakku, Skirmish aboard the Eravana,  Battle of Starkiller Base, Battle of Crait

## Additional Info

### Franchise

Star Wars

The **Millennium Falcon** is a modified YT-1300 Corellian light freighter, primarily commanded by Corellian smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca. Designed by the Corellian Engineering Corporation (CEC), the highly modified YT-1300 is durable, modular, and is stated as being the second-fastest vessel in the Star Wars canon.

## Depiction

Han Solo won the *Millennium Falcon* from Lando Calrissian in the card game 'sabacc' several years before the events of the film *A New Hope*. In *Star Wars*, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker charter the ship in the Mos Eisley cantina to deliver them, C-3PO, R2-D2, and the stolen Death Star plans to Alderaan. When the *Falcon* is captured by the Death Star, the group conceal themselves in smuggling compartments built into the floor to avoid detection during a search of the ship. Solo later collects his fee for delivering them to the hidden Rebel base and departs under bitter circumstances, but returns to assist Luke in destroying the Death Star.

Solo pilots the *Falcon*, with Chewbacca, Leia, and C-3PO aboard, to elude the Imperial Starfleet in *The Empire Strikes Back*, wherein they take refuge at Cloud City, where Darth Vader captures Solo. Lando Calrissian helps the others escape and, at the film's end, he departs in the *Falcon* to track down Solo and his captor, Jabba the Hutt. Calrissian again captains the *Falcon* during the climax of *Return of the Jedi*, with Nien Nunb as co-pilot, to destroy the second Death Star. Before the second Death Star is destroyed, Lando accidentally damages the ship by hitting the circular sensor rectenna dish on a random pipe or circuit in the second Death Star. Lando and the others still have success in destroying the Galactic Empire.

In *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*, set some 30 years after *Return of the Jedi*, the *Falcon* is in the possession of a scrap dealer named Unkar Plutt on the desert planet Jakku, having been stolen from Solo and Chewbacca some years prior. Scavenger Rey and former stormtrooper Finn steal the *Falcon* in order to escape from an attack by the First Order, having been targeted for having the droid BB-8 in their possession. During the chase sequence, the Falcon demonstrated an atmospheric performance of 60 degree turn rate per second, and a 90 degree roll rate per second. They are captured by a smuggling freighter, which turns out to be piloted by Solo and Chewbacca, who reclaim the *Falcon* for their own. Forced to escape in the *Falcon* from an ambush by parties to whom Solo is heavily in debt, Solo reluctantly agrees to help Rey and Finn return BB-8 to the Resistance.

The *Falcon* appears again in *Star Wars: The Last Jedi*, still on Ahch-To with Rey and Chewbacca. Later in the film, Chewbacca and Rey take the *Falcon* to the planet Crait, where the Resistance is under attack by the First Order. The *Falcon* loses its sensor dish for the third time on Crait, after it is shot off by a TIE fighter. After the battle, surviving Resistance personnel leave Crait aboard the *Falcon*.

### Kessel Run

In the initial film, Solo brags that the *Falcon* made the **Kessel Run** in "less than twelve parsecs". As the parsec is a unit of distance, not time, different explanations have been provided. A parsec was a unit of distance equal to 3.26 light years. The system used by starship navigators throughout the galaxy to record the location of star systems was based on parsecs. In the fourth draft of the script, Kenobi "reacts to Solo’s stupid attempt to impress them with obvious misinformation". On the *Star Wars* DVD audio commentary, Lucas comments that, in the *Star Wars* universe, traveling through hyperspace requires careful navigation to avoid stars, planets, asteroids, and other obstacles, and that because no long-distance journey can be made in a straight line, the "fastest" ship is the one that can plot the "most direct course", thereby traveling the least distance.

In the pre-release novelization the line is: "less than twelve standard timeparts".

In the film *Solo: A Star Wars Story*, Solo's Kessel Run is depicted in detail, providing an explanation for the "twelve parsec" boast. Solo has to make many calculated jumps to avoid killing the crew. Nobody thought it was possible to make it out of Kessel in less than 20 parsecs. After integrating the memory module of Lando's damaged L3 droid into the ship's navigation, Solo is able to take a "shortcut" dangerously close to the black holes. Chewbacca indicates the real distance was closer to 13 parsecs, but Han insisted, "Not if you round down." implying that the distance of "less than twelve parsecs" was embellished by Solo.

### Ownership

The *Falcon* has been depicted many times in the franchise, and ownership has changed several times.

* Prior to *Star Wars*, the *Falcon* was in the possession of Lando Calrissian. He lost it to Han Solo in payment of a gambling debt.
* After the events of *The Empire Strikes Back*, Leia, Chewbacca and Lando take possession of the *Falcon* after Solo's hybernation in carbonite and capture by the Empire and Boba Fett.
* During *Return of the Jedi*, Solo leaves Tatooine aboard the *Millennium Falcon*, and on arrival at the rendezvous for the Rebel fleet he loans the *Falcon* to Calrissian, who pilots it during the Battle of Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star.
* After the events of *Return of the Jedi*, the *Falcon* is stolen from Solo, ending up on the planet Jakku under the ownership of a scrap dealer, Unkar Plutt, 30 years after the Battle of Endor. In *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*, Rey and Finn commandeer the ship to escape the planet, only to be found by Solo and Chewbacca, who immediately reclaim the ship.
* After the death of Solo, Rey pilots the *Falcon*, with Chewbacca as her co-pilot. The novelization of *The Force Awakens* states that Chewbacca willingly abdicates captaincy of the *Falcon* to Rey.
* After the events of *The Last Jedi*, the ship becomes the base of operations for the 300 remaining members of the Resistance.

Size comparisonSchematics
## Notes

1. ↑ Providing atmospheric turn rate of 60 degree per second, and atmospheric roll rate of 90 degree per second
2. ↑ These are both non standard. Stock examples used a Class 2 Unit, with backup drives rated in the 12 to 15 range.
3. ↑ Cameo - The ship is briefly seen arriving at the Senate Building on Coruscant (At this point, it was operated by the Republic Group with the name Stellar Envoy)
4. ↑ Lego form
5. ↑ This is depicted in *Solo: A Star Wars Story*.

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Empire Strikes Back
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 The Force Awakens
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Millenium Falcon Owners Manual Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "Manual" defined multiple times with different content
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Star Wars: Millennium Falcon Deluxe Book and Model Set
6. ↑ Millenium Falcon Owners Manual Page 34
7. ↑ Solo: A Star Wars Story - The Official Guide
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Solo: A Star Wars Story
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
10. ↑ Star Wars 1: Skywalker Strikes
11. ↑ IDW Adventure 10: Powered Down, Part I
12. ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 A New Hope
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Return of the Jedi
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Aftermath: Life Debt
15. ↑ The Last Jedi
16. ↑ *Aftermath*
17. ↑ *Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded*
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 *Star Wars 38: The Ashes of Jedha, Part I*
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 *Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure*
20. ↑ *Last Shot*
21. ↑ Doctor Aphra 8: The Screaming Citadel, Part V
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 *Star Wars: Smuggler's Guide*
23. ↑ Millenium Falcon Owners Manual Page 304
24. ↑ Star Wars: Databank: Millennium Falcon (Expanded Universe) starwars.com
25. ↑ Myth Busters
26. ↑ Star Wars (Public Version of Fourth Draft) on the Jedi Bendu Script Site
27. ↑ Commentary track on *Star Wars* DVD