Someone alert the Resistance. They have precious few X-wing starfighters in their fleet as is, but now, the Smithsonian has one. Specifically the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The institution has Poe Dameron’s X-wing, last seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lucasfilm issued a long-term loan for the full-sized vehicle. We can only imagine that they asked Poe’s permission.
The X-wing, the best Star Wars spaceship, currently sits in the Restoration Hangar at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. There, Smithsonian’s staff prepare the vehicle for display with conservation efforts. The public can visit the hangar and observe the work. Note that these efforts, to our knowledge, do not involve a cute, round, orange and white astromech. But even without BB-8, we still welcome the chance to get up close and personal (relatively speaking) with an X-wing.
Smithsonian
Once the staff gets the movie prop ready, the X-wing will move into the Air and Space Museum proper. Specifically, it will have a home outside the Albert Einstein Planetarium in 2022.
The X-wing’s arrival marks the first Star Wars presence at the Smithsonian in a while. Specifically since 1997’s Star Wars: The Magic of Myth exhibit. That exhibit included props, models, artwork, and costumes. It explored the characters as archetypes. I never got to visit, but I have the accompanying book about the exhibit. It rules.
And if you want a real blast from the past, you can visit a virtual online version of the exhibit on the Smithsonian’s website. Like, you can click through the whole thing. The design screams late ’90s, but I find it delightful in the best way. Get your fix that way until you can visit Poe’s X-wing in person.
Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of A Kid’s Guide to Fandom, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
