“We astronauts are right here at the moment to salute all those that made our journey into house attainable. They’ve permitted us to see the Earth as a valuable blue jewel within the blackness of house. Now all of us might get pleasure from this sense of marvel due to Walt Disney.”
With these phrases 50 years in the past at the moment (Jan. 15), Apollo 15 moonwalker Jim Irwin opened Area Mountain at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Florida. Later to be reproduced at different Disney theme parks, this was the unique — the primary curler coaster supposed to present the general public the identical feeling that solely astronauts had skilled up till then.
“Blast off on a rip-roaring rocket into the furthest reaches of outer house on this roller-coaster experience in the dead of night,” reads the present description of Area Mountain on the Walt Disney World Resort web site.
In 1975, nevertheless, the very concept for such a experience preceded the existence of the know-how wanted to construct it. First proposed by Disney and sketched out by Imagineer John Hench in 1964, building on Area Mountain didn’t start till Dec. 15, 1972, simply because the final Apollo astronauts to stroll on the moon have been on their approach again to Earth. It was additionally six years after the demise of Walt Disney.
Associated: The Apollo Program: How NASA despatched astronauts to the moon
“Walt had a dream,” mentioned Irwin simply earlier than hundreds of doves have been launched, daytime fireworks have been launched and 50,000 pink, white and blue balloons climbed into the sky. “At the moment we see the outcomes of that dream.”
Wanting on the experience at the moment, whereas actually nonetheless a thrill, it has little resemblance to precise spaceflight. However within the 50 years that Area Mountain has been working, there have been and nonetheless are a number of nods to NASA and actual house exploration. Listed here are 5 such connections, from each behind the scenes and on the experience.
1. NASTRAN
Area Mountain was one of many first computer-controlled curler coasters. If the experience’s “house shuttles” (or “rocket sleds”) approached one another too carefully, the computer systems slowed or stopped the automobiles.
However that is not the one approach WED Enterprises (at the moment, Walt Disney Imagineering Analysis and Growth) used computer systems to make sure riders’ security.
When engaged on the design for the help construction for Area Mountain’s twin tracks, the Imagineers wanted it to be sturdy however not wastefully overbuilt. That’s once they realized of the NASA Structural Evaluation Program, or NASTRAN. An offshoot of the software program used to design air and spacecraft, NASTRAN enabled the Imagineers to digitally mannequin and take a look at the experience monitor earlier than constructing it.
“On this approach, engineers create a mathematical mannequin of the aeronautical or house automobile and ‘fly’ it on the bottom by the use of laptop simulation. The approach permits them to review efficiency and structural habits of plenty of totally different designs earlier than deciding on the ultimate configuration and continuing with building,” wrote James Haggerty in “Spinoff 1977,” an annual report put out by NASA about how its analysis and applied sciences are being put to make use of by business and others outdoors of the house program.
2. From computer systems to outer house
In 1975, the RCA Company was engaged on the event of closed-circuit tv and different varied subsystems for NASA’s then-upcoming house shuttle program. It was additionally the presenting sponsor for Area Mountain.
“Naturally, the fundamental objective of Area Mountain from the corporate’s standpoint is to present the general public a vivid image of what RCA is all about and what it has achieved in such numerous areas of as house exploration, digital communications and residential leisure,” mentioned Mort Gaffin, RCA’s director for company identification and graphics and venture supervisor for Area Mountain, within the February/March 1975 subject of the corporate’s e-newsletter, “Talk.”
In actual fact, it might be due to RCA that Area Mountain launched the general public on rockets and never motherboards. Initially, Imagineers Hench and Marty Sklar approached the corporate about sponsoring a experience that will take visitors on a journey by a pc. It was solely after RCA rejected that concept did Hench choose up on Disney’s need for a spaceflight expertise, resulting in RCA approaching board for $10 million.
On Area Mountain, riders noticed astronauts engaged on an RCA-built Environment Explorer Satellite tv for pc and an orbiting laboratory being assembled remotely utilizing TV methods furnished by RCA.
A tall pylon put in on the entrance to Area Mountain displayed the RCA emblem at its high and included the one direct reference to NASA. A full-size experience automobile was suspended from the monument, full with 4 astronaut figures. The spacesuits every astronaut rider is sporting had the NASA insignia on its chest.
(RCA’s sponsorship ran till 1993. The pylon was modified to point out a three-seat automobile in 1989, per the change to the seating on the experience itself. 5 years later, the pylon was eliminated and changed with certainly one of a distinct design.)
3. ‘One Big Step’
On the base of the RCA pylon was a metallic plaque “introduced by missile, house and vary pioneers.”
“Devoted to the women and men whose abilities, sacrifice, braveness and teamwork opened the door to the exploration of man’s thrilling new frontier outer house. As a result of they dared to achieve for the stars and the planets, man’s information of his universe, Earth and himself has been tremendously enriched,” learn the plaque, which was titled “One Big Step.”
It was a kind of astronauts, Irwin, who took the primary “small step” (or “large leap,” relying in your perspective) onto Area Mountain on opening day, because the experience’s first passenger.
“It is nearly as tough because the experience on the Saturn V rocket,” the Apollo 15 lunar module pilot mentioned in an interview with RCA, referring to his experience to the moon.
Associated: Saturn V: The mighty U.S. moon rocket
Becoming a member of Irwin on the ceremony have been Mercury astronauts Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper. Carpenter had been the second American to orbit Earth in 1962; Cooper adopted him because the final “authentic” astronaut to fly a yr later after which commanded NASA’s Gemini 5 mission in 1965.
In 1973, Cooper joined WED Enterprises to assist develop Epcot and put the ultimate touches on Area Mountain, the latter of which he mentioned supplied a “sensible feeling” of what it felt wish to fly into house. He additionally recorded a video that visitors noticed when queuing up for the experience, explaining what they have been about to undergo and giving them the possibility to exit ought to they modify their thoughts.
4. Rocket to the Moon
Previous to Area Mountain, Disney’s first space-themed attraction was “Rocket to the Moon.” Situated in California as a part of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland (and later reproduced as “Flight to the Moon” at Walt Disney World in Florida in 1971), the present was developed with NASA’s help. The attraction was re-themed to “Mission to Mars” at each parks inside months of Area Mountain opening on the Magic Kingdom in 1975.
There’s now a reference to the since-closed Mission to Mars on a panel in Area Mountain’s queue, however it’s one other signal and a distinct “rocket to the moon” that serves as a nod to actual house historical past.
Earlier within the line for the experience, a backlit billboard lists “Lively Lunar Stations” accessible from “Starport Seventy-5” (the fictional setting for Area Mountain). Along with science fiction and Disney-inspired names, the third entry reads, “TRNQ-ARMSTRONG Interplanetary.”
If not apparent, it is a tribute to Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, who was the primary particular person to stroll on the moon at Tranquility Base in 1969.
(In 2005, the true Armstrong helped re-open Area Mountain at Disneyland after it underwent two years of renovations.)
5. Area (Race) Mountain
The festivities marking the opening of Area Mountain was not the one time that actual house vacationers met on the fictional starport. Lower than a month later, the attraction grew to become the rendezvous level for 2 crews set to shake palms in orbit.
In 1975, the house race between the US and Russia had all however come to an in depth (the moon’s floor being the end line), however the two nations have been nonetheless Chilly Struggle rivals. So it was a giant deal when astronauts and cosmonauts got here collectively through the first joint American and Russian house mission in July 1975.
5 months earlier than they launched into house, the 5 members of the Apollo-Soyuz Check Challenge (ASTP) visited Walt Disney World, the place they rode the newly debuted Area Mountain. The Feb. 9, 1975 go to by NASA astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Model and Deke Slayton and Russian cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov was an opportunity for each crews to chill out and generate some publicity earlier than the Russians reported for his or her final coaching session in Houston.
Nonetheless laughing quickly after getting off Area Mountain, Leonov described the experience as “an actual good built-in simulator” for his or her upcoming mission.
Comply with collectSPACE.com on Fb and on X at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2025 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
