The Bright Hope, a GR-75 medium transport, provided service to the Rebel Alliance. To flee Hoth, the rebels utilized twenty-nine other transports of the same class. This transport was integrated into the evacuation plan during the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY. Rebel personnel, such as Lieutenant Harlize Dana, Rainn Poras, and communications officer Toryn Farr, boarded the Bright Hope, while Chase Wilsorr, a kitchen worker, aided Doctor Tristan Melthabi, Officer Sendak, and [Jordan Smythe](/article/jordan_smythe], the Tauntaun handler, in reaching the transport. Subsequently, the Bright Hope departed, escorted by three T-65B X-wing starfighters piloted by Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, and Tarrin. It was the final transport to make its exit from Hoth.
Gallofree Yards, Inc. manufactured the Bright Hope, which is a GR-75 medium transport. This transport, measuring 90 meters in length, could achieve a speed of 650 kph and included a class 4 hyperdrive. The Bright Hope also featured shield generators and a capacity of 19,000 metric tons. It was designed to fulfill transportation duties, as well as specialized roles like communications, medical support, fireship operations, resupply missions, rescue operations, and fire support.
During the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Bright Hope operated under the command of the Rebel Alliance at Echo Base, the secret base of the Alliance High Command located on the ice planet Hoth. In 3 ABY, the Galactic Empire discovered the base, which prompted the Alliance to initiate their evacuation from the planet. As the Empire arrived and attacked Echo Base, the Bright Hope was the last transport scheduled to depart Hoth, with rebel pilots Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, and Tarrin assigned as its escort. Deck officers, including Serenity Meeks, guided evacuees toward the Bright Hope and other GR-75s, which departed in succession.
When [Chase Wilsorr](/article/chase_wilsorr], a kitchen worker, and Lieutenant Harlize Dana arrived at the transport, Meeks informed Major Bren Derlin that Doctor Tristan Melthabi and three medtechs were trapped in the medical facility. To rescue the medical staff, Wilsorr directed them towards the Bright Hope while looking for more stragglers. The communications officer Toryn Farr then announced that the transport would be leaving in ten minutes. Farr eventually abandoned her post at the command center to board the Bright Hope. Princess Leia Organa also left the center for the transport, accompanied by Captain Han Solo and the protocol droid C-3PO. Injured rebel pilots were brought to the Bright Hope. Farr discovered her injured sister, Samoc Farr, among the injured pilots.
Wilsorr also made his way back to the Bright Hope with other personnel he had located, including communications officer Sendak. With only three minutes remaining until takeoff, the kitchen worker hurried to the Tauntaun pens and evacuated the handler Jordan Smythe. After Organa, Solo, and C-3PO were blocked by a tunnel collapse, Solo contacted Bright Hope, giving the starship permission to depart without them, instead taking his two comrades aboard his light freighter the Millennium Falcon. Meeks delayed the Bright Hope's departure to allow Wilsorr and Smythe to board the vessel. After the pair boarded the transport, riding the tauntaun Sunshine, other rebels, including Rainn Poras, praised Wilsorr for his assistance in saving personnel. The Bright Hope then departed from Hoth, escorted by its X-wing fighters. The Bright Hope later became part of the Fourth Division of the Alliance Navy, along with the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Redemption and several other corvettes and transports, and was present at Backup Rendezvous Point Gamma-Nine.
The Bright Hope made its debut in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, which was under the direction of . In 2015, DK publishing's reference book Ultimate Star Wars identified the transport and stated that Derek "Hobbie" Klivian was part of the starfighter escort for Bright Hope. However, Daniel Wallace's 2017 reference book Star Wars: On the Front Lines later presented a contradiction, stating that Hobbie died when his snowspeeder crashed during the Battle of Hoth. Furthermore, another reference book by DK publishing, Star Wars: Complete Locations, published in 2016, replaced Hobbie with Tarrin as one of the starfighter escort pilots.
Within Star Wars Legends continuity, the Bright Hope was first presented in M. Shayne Bell's short story Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM, which was part of the 1996 anthology book Tales of the Bounty Hunters. This story revealed that the transport was the one Han Solo attempts to use to bring Leia Organa to during the Battle of Hoth in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. The name Bright Hope originated from a line spoken by C-3PO in the film, when he suggested to Organa that the final transport was their "only hope" for escape. Later, in 1998, the PC program Star Wars: Behind the Magic retroactively revealed that the Bright Hope was the GR-75 medium transport seen taking off in the background during the scene in which Luke Skywalker enters his X-wing to evacuate Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, establishing the ship's first in-universe appearance.