Escape pods, also known as life pods, were small escape crafts intended for use in emergencies. They were standard aboard all deep-space starships. Some luxury models were fitted with hyperdrives.
Some escape pods were designed to fly into the upper atmosphere and wait to be picked up by a ship, which is how Jedi Master Yoda departed Kashyyyk when Order 66 was declared. Some planets had a network of escape pods that could launch into the upper atmosphere away from danger. Jedi Cal Kestis despised escape pods, which was likely caused by his experience during Order 66, in which Kestis' master, Jaro Tapal, died in front of his Padawan in an escape pod after being mortally wounded by clone troopers. Smaller ships, such as the Millennium Falcon and other light freighters, carried such crafts that could only accommodate one typically-sized humanoid in a fixed, immobile, and straightened position.
R2-D2 and C-3PO used an escape pod to smuggle the Death Star plans off the Tantive IV. The Devastators gunnery officers noticed the launch but chose not to fire upon the pod, presuming that it had malfunctioned as they detected no life forms aboard.
At the advice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo jettisoned the escape pods of the Millennium Falcon when the ship was caught in the tractor beam of the Death Star. He lamented their loss, as they were expensive, but recognized the value of the move as a ruse and recorded a captain's log stating that he had abandoned the ship.
The Kilji species' escape pods were small, metallic, and cylindrical. An individual aboard the Kilji pods could live for several hours before running out of oxygen. The Kilji war cruisers were equipped with the escape pods. After being launched, they broadcast their location.
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