Astronauts on the International Space Station paid tribute to Star Wars’ Peter Mayhew
The death of actor Peter Mayhew last week was sad news for his colleagues, his fans, and, as it turns out, the astronauts currently residing on the International Space Station. These men and women who have dedicated their lives to science and space exploration are, unsurprisingly, big Star Wars fans, and they paid tribute to the man who played Chewbacca over the last four decades by displaying his image on the space station window overlooking the Earth.
We’re sure Mayhew would have been thrilled to know that his performance—and his involvement in the Star Wars franchise in general—was an inspiration to real-life space explorers. This post comes just a few days after the ISS crew treated themselves to a viewing of a Star Wars film in honor of May The 4th. We’re not sure which one they ended up watching considering the “A long time ago…” text appears in front of all of the films, but we’re hoping they decided to kick it old school and go with the 1977 original.
Of course, it’s not all fun and games and nerding out on the ISS. The crew spent the majority of the last few days preparing for and executing their capture of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft. Maybe that’s not as quick or flashy as Luke’s Death Star trench run, but it’s still pretty cool.
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