Colin Cantwell, chief starship designer of star wars and analyst of CBS's moon landing program, died. His partner Sierra Dall confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that he died at his home in Colorado on Saturday at the age of 90. Cantwell worked with George Lucas to draw and build prototypes of various spaceships in Star Wars, created unforgettable designs, and continued to play a role in later films and games.
His designs include TIE fighter, X-Wing fighter, Y-wing fighter, tantive IV, sand crawler, land airship and death star.
Cantwell also participated in the production of 2001: Space Odyssey, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, contact III and war games, in which he created vivid computer images of nuclear launch and provided inspiration for later Defcon.
Before entering Hollywood, Cantwell worked for the education programs of NASA and JPL, which is why he eventually became the chief analyst of CBS lunar radio. Cantwell's job is to handle communications between NASA and news anchor Walter Cronkite.
At reddit AMA in 2016, Cantwell recalled the birth of the death star. "I didn't intend to have a groove for the death star at first," he wrote. "But when I used the mold, I noticed that there was a depression in the intersection between the two halves, and it took a week's work to fill the depression alone. So in order to save effort, I went to George and suggested digging out a groove. He liked the idea very much, so it became one of the most iconic moments in the film!"