Lifeboat

A lifeboat was a large escape pod that was common on large capital ships. The boats could hold between ten and fifty individuals and some were considered to be starships in their own right. Life boats were better stocked than escape pods, and provided support for passengers for a longer duration. Some models were equipped with sublight drives, and some were even fitted with hyperdrives.

The escape pods carried by the Millennium Falcon included a two-person lifeboat which Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo took to the surface of Skye.

Although not strictly lifeboats, the Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide, the official field manual for the Imperial Military, compared the planets within the Galactic Empire to that of lifeboats floating adrift in the airless void that was realspace.