An immense battle station 120-kilometers in diameter, the Death Star was the pinnacle of Imperial engineering. Designed by Chief Engineer Bevel Lemelisk and constructed above the penal colony of Despyre, the Death Star was Grand Moff Tarkin's ultimate symbol of rule by fear of force. It carried a crew of over 750,000 and enough firepower to destroy an entire system. Tarkin demonstrated the power of his masterpiece by destroying the world of Alderaan in an attempt to persuade Princess Leia Organa to reveal the location of the Alliance base. The Death Star relies on its world destroying superlaser and vast numbers of turbolasers on its surface to defend against large scale attacks, but appears to be vulnerable to small starfighters. The Death Star was later destroyed in the Battle of Yavin. Grand Moff Tarkin died with his creation at Yavin, but it is unknown how many more Death Stars he was construc