THE BEST Spaceships

Season two of The Mandalorian has been quite a thrill so far, though the Razor Crest has seen more than its share of abuse along the way. ILM looks back at the creation of Mando’s ship, from its earliest conceptual designs through its production as both a digital object and an intricate real-world model for in-camera shots.

MetaBallStudios revisits their earlier starship size comparison with significantly more ships from the worlds of science fiction and fantasy. Just about every imaginable class of ship is represented, from the teensy Hocotate ship flown by the Pikmin to the Planet Express ship from Futurama to the gargantuan Ringworld.

Richard Branson revealed details of Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo’s sleek interior cabin. Each of the six reclining passenger seats minimize g-forces during boost and re-entry, relays flight data on a personal screen, has a pilot communication system, and comes with an out-of-this-world ticket price: $250,000.

Good news everyone! There’s a sweet light-up replica of the Planet Express spaceship from Futurama. Quantum Mechanix’s collectible measures about 12″x 4″ x 4″ and has lights on its cockpit, portholes and exhaust. It also has magnets that make it easy to mount it on its stand.

She may not look like much, but she lights up where it counts. This 1:180 scale replica of Han Solo’s ship floats at the end of an adjustable Angelpoise-style base. You’ll want to grab the TIE Fighter lamp for the other side of your desk so they can do battle. Both lamps offer bright LED illumination, and are USB-powered.

Walt Disney World’s most immersive experience yet will be a new hotel being built next to Galaxy’s Edge. The Galactic Starcruiser will make multi-day guests feel like they’re inside a spaceship – the Halcyon – via galactic views, hotel staff portrayed by characters like Chewbacca, and a port day on the planet Batuu.

We already have a pretty good idea how big the ships of Star Wars would have been if they actually existed. But Corridor decided to give us a bit more context, superimposing life-size CGI models ships over locations on Earth. The Death Star is way smaller than we thought.

LEGO Ideas members Valerie Roche and Matthew Nolan’s SpaceX Ultimate Collection consists of 1,583 pieces. It lets you build the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy and the launcher. It also comes with a cargo ship, the Dragon spacecraft and Musk’s Tesla Roadster.

This 1:72 scale model kit of Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon is the ultimate collectible for fans of Han Solo’s ship. Bandai painstakingly inspected and scanned the movie prop used in A New Hope to create this model kit. It comes with LED lights and a display base.

Unlike other LEGO space shuttles, KingsKnight’s proposal is a 1:110 model, the same scale as the recently released LEGO Apollo Saturn V set. The design includes the tank and boosters, the Canadarm, a satellite, swappable decals, and seven microfigures.

Adam, Will and Norm got their hands on the awesome LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V scale model rocket a bit earlier than us mere mortals. Watch them unbox, methodically knoll parts, and build the set. Assembly and story time start at 2:25.

Based on a proposal by LEGO Ideas members Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche, this model kit features a 3ft-tall (1:110 scale) model of the Saturn V, the most powerful rocketship ever built. It comes with a lunar lander and three astronaut microfigs.

Tested visited Quantum Mechanix’s booth at San Diego Comic-Con to look at the toymaker’s upcoming spaceship scale models. The highlight of the booth is definitely the cutaway Millennium Falcon, but the Star Trek Beyond ship and Star-Lord’s Milano are awesome too.

Licensed quadcopters based on the 74-Z speeder bike, the Millennium Falcon, the T-65 X-Wing and the TIE Advanced X1. Each quad is equipped with lasers and will have a game mode where three hits with a laser will make the quad land. More here.

LEGO enthusiast Lia Chan built this masterfully scaled and detailed model of the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39a. It includes the Space Shuttle Atlantis, the crawler transport system and the launch platform itself.

SpaceX just launched a communications satellite to space using its Falcon 9 rocket. For the third time in a row, the rocket’s first stage booster landed in the ocean on a drone ship. This brief time-lapse from an onboard camera shows the booster’s descent.

Redditor raskolnikov- is blowing minds all over the world with his incredible LEGO model of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Not only is it huge – it’s over 56″ long and weighs 70lb – it also has a detailed interior, with rooms and minifigs and even spaceships inside it.

On 4/8/16, after four failed attempts, SpaceX finally managed to land the first stage booster of its Falcon 9 rocket into a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean. The rocket deployed SpaceX’s Dragon spaceship, which carried supplies to the ISS. Skip to 27:15 for the landing.

After two failed attempts, SpaceX finally managed to both launch the Falcon 9 rocket and safely land its first stage booster. The reusable rocket is a significant step towards drastically reducing the cost of going to space. Landing at 31:16.

We’ve seen similar comparisons in illustrations, but YouTuber MetaBallStudios’ CGI video gives us a idea of how spaceships from movies, video games and more compare to each other. It’s amazing what you can build when you don’t really have to build it.

Gizmodo and artist Scott Park tried to enumerate the vehicles from the original Star Wars trilogy according to their size. They made a couple of mistakes, but it’s still a good list. Scott sells prints of this compilation and more cool works on Society6.

Dreadnought is an upcoming free-to-play 5-on-5 online multiplayer game where each player commands a large battleship. Choose a ship type then customize it with abilities and crew members. Coming to PC in 2016.

SpaceX shares this brief GoPro footage of the Falcon 9 rocket twirling in space as it descends back to Earth after a test flight, capturing the sun and our planet in the process, set to the Blue Danube waltz – a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This video taken from one of the Endeavour’s F/A-18 escorts shows the shuttle flying over some of Los Angeles’ landmarks before touching down at LAX for its 2013 parade. You can visit her at the California Space Center.

A computer animated simulation of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. It will be the world’s most powerful operational rocket, able to lift the equivalent of a fully-loaded Boeing 737 into orbit. It will also support reusable booster rockets.

After almost a year of tweaking, Dirk Loechel has released the final major version of his enormous spaceship size comparison chart. It’s by no means definitive, but at least Dirk included the International Space Station for scale.