Difference between revisions of "Mission: Space"

Revision as of 20:33, 29 February 2012

Mission Space is a pavilion located in Epcot

Pavilion History

It took Imagineers almost five years to complete their concept for Mission: Space. Designs for the attraction began in 1995, and in total over 650 Imagineers worked on the attraction. The original plans for Mission: Space would have featured a motion simulator themed to look like a futuristic space shuttle (similar to Star Tours). The space shuttle would "fly" guests to a space station located on an asteroid. As opposed to the classic motion simulator technology, this version of Mission: Space would have utilized the new technology created for the attraction. The asteroid where the space station was located, would actually be the rest of the pavilion, which guests could walk around and explore.

Originally Imagineers wanted to reuse the building that housed Horizons. Due to the extensive costs of restructuring the building, to suit Mission Space, this idea was eventually scrapped. Instead a new pavilion was constructed on the former site of Horizons which was closed and demolished in 1999. Construction began on Mission Space in September of 2000. Initially the attraction was sponsored by Compaq, who helped design and develop the attraction in May 2000. When Compaq merged with Hewitt-Packard in 2002, HP assumed sponsorship of the pavilion. The simulator hardware used in the attraction was designed and built by Environmental Tectonics Corporation of Pennsylvania. Environmental Tectonics won the contract with a 30 million dollar contract in February of 2002.

Mission: Space celebrated it's grand opening on October 9, 2003 (the ride had been open for "soft openings" since June of that year). On hand for the celebration was Michael Eisner, HP CEO Carly Fiorina and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. Various astronauts also attended the event including: astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the space shuttle program, and international space station crew members. Also in 2003, the Environmental Tectonic Company sued Disney for 15 million dollars, alleging that Disney had failed to pay the full amount of the contract and that they shared proprietary design details with competitors. Disney counter-sued, alleging that the company had company failed to deliver according to the contract, and that this failure had cost Disney an extra 20 million dollars. The companies settled out of court in January of 2009.

Due to guests complaints of dizziness or headache after riding Mission: Space, On May 19, 2006, Disney began offering a less intense version of the ride called, the Green Team. Guests now have the option of riding the original ride (now known as the Orange Team) or riding the Green Team, during which centrifuge does not spin (creating a tamer ride).

Attraction Plot

Although Mission: Space is considered a pavilion, it really only includes one attraction (titled Mission: Space). The attraction is set in the year 2036, the 75th anniversary of man arriving on the moon. In the future, any person with the proper training can travel to space. To get this training, guests are entering the International Space Training Center. As they wait in the queue, they can see various artificial from the history of space travel. A large gravity wheel, and props from the 2000 movie, Mission to Mars can be found in the queue. Along the way, guests will also see a replica NASA moon rover, as well as plaque commorating the past, present and even future of space travel. A picture of the first family in space can also be found in the queue, reinforcing that idea that in the year 2036, anyone can travel to the moon.