An X-Wing Starfighter has arrived from a galaxy far, far away at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

Last seen in 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the full-sized fictional spacecraft is now on display with the museum reopening to the public for the first time in more than five months due to the pandemic.

The X-Wing is currently undergoing conservation work in the museum’s restoration hangar. This is in preparation of being sent downtown, where it will hang at the soon-to-be-newly-renovated Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in late 2022.

“We know that this generation of aerospace engineers… many of them grew up Star Wars fans,” Margaret Weitekamp, head of the museum’s space history department, tells DCist/WAMU about why the museum is excited about displaying this piece of Star Wars lore. “There are real ways in which the vision of Star Wars has actually played a really important part in [their] imagination for space flight.”

The vehicle is on long-term loan from Lucasfilm with the museum appropriately making the announcement yesterday on May 4, known as Star Wars Day (“May the 4th Be With You”).

The X-Wing, with its 37-foot wingspan, may look like something that has actually gone to space, but it’s a film prop.

Weitekamp explains that the vehicle was built, designed, and painted specifically to play a part.

In the movie, this particular X-Wing is flown by Poe Dameron (portrayed by actor Oscar Issac) and is supposed to have seen its fair share of laser fights.

“Star Wars is a wonderfully lived-in universe,” says Weitekamp. “Things look like they’ve been beat up a little bit. They look like they’ve been worn… this has some battle scars on it.”

However, she explains, it remains Smithsonian’s job to care for artifacts and make sure it retains its authenticity.

“This is kind of hitting a balance between figuring out if that little scratch might have happened during shipping or was that something that was drawn on as a part of the use of the vehicle in the film,” says Weitekamp.

Right now, the X-Wing is disassembled to give conservators a chance to inspect, take a closer look, and clean each individual part.

In the coming months, though, the plan is to reassemble the vehicle to see it as a whole and make final decisions about how to rig it safely from the ceiling at the Air and Space Museum on Independence Avenue.

For Star Wars nerds (of whom, Weitekamp counts herself), this X-Wing may look a little different than the one Luke Skywalker flew in the original trilogy of films – a T-65B – several decades ago.

This X-Wing on display is a T-70, a successor to the original X-Wing with a slightly different configuration to the foils (the wings that come out when in attack position and give the vehicle its name).

This isn’t the first time Star Wars props have been on display at the Smithsonian.

In 1997, an entire exhibit was devoted to the iconic films where the museum showcased, among many other items, a model of the Millennium Falcon, R2-D2, Darth Vader’s helmet, and an Ewok.

The National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center is the first Smithsonian museum to reopen to the public with a number of others planning to re-open by the end of the month.

However, the museum is requiring free timed-entry passes to visit, but with this new artifact, one may need to be a Jedi to secure a ticket.

“I grew up a Stars Wars fan,” says Weitekamp. “As a fan of aviation, space flight, and science fiction, the X-Wing brings all of those things together.”

This post has been updated with the correct spelling for Oscar Isaac’s name.