Mission: SPACE

Mission: SPACE, a motion simulator ride at Epcot theme park, is as close as you can get to blasting off into space without leaving Earth. This attraction for big kids, teens and adults realistically mimics what an astronaut might experience during a space flight to Mars. It simulates what an astronaut might experience aboard a spacecraft on a mission to Mars, from the higher g-force of blastoff to the speculative hypersleep.

Each member of your astronaut team has a challenging role in a dynamic and daring cosmic mission dodging meteors and navigating nebulae. Mission: SPACE is available in 2 versions, select the Orange Team for exhilarating and intense training or opt for the Green Team and have a less intense galactic adventure.

The Experience

Mission: Space is meant to simulate astronaut training for the first manned mission to Mars aboard the fictional X-2 Deep Space Shuttle in 2036, the seventy-fifth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space. (The year 2036 can be deduced from plaques in the attraction's queue celebrating 75 years of human spaceflight, including two faux milestones in the future.) Riders are "trainees" at the fictional International Space Training Center (ISTC), where they are arranged into crews of four before watching an introductory video featuring actor Gary Sinise, who starred in the space drama, Apollo 13 and Mission to Mars.

Before boarding the simulators, each rider is assigned an on-board role (navigator, pilot, commander or engineer) and given two tasks to perform during the mission (pressing a specific button when told). For example, one of the commander's buttons initiates the rocket's first-stage separation, and the other activates manual flight control. The spacecraft's on-board self-automated pilot will perform each task if the rider does not respond to his or her prompt from Mission Control or if there is no one to perform the task. Also featured are various labeled buttons and switches which the rider may play with but do nothing; they are only there to add to the realism aspect of the ride.

The mission includes liftoff from the ISTC, a slingshot around the moon for a gravity-assisted boost, a brief period of simulated hypersleep (to pass the lengthy time required to reach Mars) and a descent for landing on the Martian surface. As a training exercise, the mission contains several unexpected situations that add to the drama. The futuristic X-2 vehicle is a three-stage rocket which is said to use several technologies in development today, including aerospike engines, solid hydrogen fuel, an aerobrake and carbon nanotubes.

The attraction queue contains several items and commemorative plaques from past, present and fictional future space missions. Among the items on display are props from the 2000 film Mission to Mars, including the rotating "gravity wheel" from the predecessor X-1 spacecraft, a model of which hangs from the ceiling, and a replica of a NASA moon rover from the Apollo program.

Upon conclusion of the training exercise, guests are invited to participate in activities at the Advanced Training Lab, a post-show area containing a group game called Mission: Space Race in which players perform tasks as Mission Control technicians aiding two X-2 spacecraft racing to return to Earth; a space-themed play area for toddlers; a single-person, arcade-style game in which an astronaut explores Mars on foot; and a kiosk where brief video postcards can be created and sent via e-mail.

Touring Tips

• Fastpass is generally needed only during times of peak attendance, and then only if you intend to ride during the middle of the day; mornings and dinnertimes should have shorter waits.
• Although the ride portion of this attraction is relatively short, you should allot about an hour to experience Mission: SPACE in its entirety, including the post-show activities.
• Within the main interior queue, there is approximately 30 minutes worth of line in three switchbacks for each side (Green or Orange). The Orange line can also extend to include the exterior queue. Fastpass bypasses both lines for a short wait in the final boarding area for your choice of intensity.
• Mission: SPACE Orange Team is the full-on pulse-pounding motion simulation. Mission members will experience G-forces up to 2.4 times that of Earth's normal gravitational pull. Many of the motion effects of the ride are achieved through the use of a spinning centrifuge.
• Mission: SPACE Green Team is the less intense version of the simulation. Anyone prone to motion sickness may want to choose the Green Team as this does not use centrifuge technology.
• The attraction can leave you feeling disoriented, woozy and even, as some riders report, with a headache for the rest of the day. There are air sickness bags available in the capsules.
• You are given multiple chances to change your mind about riding Mission: SPACE and are asked repeatedly if you're sure you want to continue. Just before you step into the seating area, the cast member asks you to give a "thumbs up" sign, if you're still ready to go.

Facts

• Opened August 15, 2003.
• The attraction is a multiple-arm centrifuge that achieves the illusion of acceleration by spinning and tilting sealed capsules during the four-minute "mission." Fans blow air gently at riders to help avoid motion sickness, and a magnified display in front of each rider simulates a window to space with high-resolution computer-generated imagery. Mission: Space comprises four separate centrifuges, each with 10 capsules holding four riders.
• The attraction exposes riders to forces up to 2.5G, more than twice the force of gravity at the Earth's surface (effectively multiplying a rider's weight by 2.5). A few months after the ride's opening, motion sickness bags were added within easy reach of riders.
• On May 19, 2006, Disney began offering a less intense version of Mission: Space (called Green Team, also known as Less Intense training or no spinning), where the centrifuge does not spin, thus eliminating the forces of lateral acceleration for riders who choose the more tame experience. The cabs themselves still pitch and pivot, providing some motion. The normal ride is still available and is called Orange Team (also known as More Intense training or spinning).
• Horizons was the name of the attraction that Mission: Space replaced. Keeping in line with a Disney tradition of paying tribute to defunct attractions in new attractions, Mission: Space features several subtle tributes to Horizons. The Horizons logo is on display at the center of the rotating "gravity wheel" in the queue. The Horizons logo can also be found on the front of the cash register counter in the gift shop on the way out of the attraction. The planter at the front of the building is in the former shape of Horizons.
• It took more than 650 Walt Disney Imagineers more than 350,000 hours (the equivalent of 40 years of time) to develop Mission: SPACE. The Imagineers' efforts took place over a five-year period.

History

The attraction opened to the public in a "soft opening" mode in June 2003, and celebrated its grand opening on October 9 with a ceremony attended by Disney CEO Michael Eisner, HP CEO Carly Fiorina and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, as well as several NASA astronauts from its many phases of human space exploration (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the space shuttle program and two crew members aboard the International Space Station).

The attraction was built on the former site of Horizons, a dark ride that offered optimistic visions of what life might be like in the future. Horizons closed permanently in 1999 after a few years of sporadic operation; construction began on Mission: Space shortly thereafter. Industry estimates put the cost of developing the new attraction at US$100 million. The pavilion, like others at Epcot, features a VIP lounge for HP employees called The Red Planet Room.

Initially it was sponsored by Compaq, which began working with Disney Imagineers on the design in April 2000. Hewlett-Packard assumed the sponsorship upon its merger with Compaq in 2002. The simulator hardware used in Mission: Space was designed and built by Environmental Tectonics Corporation of Pennsylvania with a nearly $30 million contract awarded in February 2000. Environmental Tectonics sued Disney in 2003 seeking over $15 million US alleging failure to pay the full amount of the contract and sharing proprietary design details with competitors. Disney countersued alleging the company failed to deliver according to the contract and increased the cost of the ride by nearly $20 million US. The companies settled in January 2009.

Hidden Mickeys

• The outdoor cement walkways in front of Mission: SPACE contain several decent and some questionable classic Hidden Mickeys in the mosaic design. One is already posted on my website: the head is a black stone and the ears blue stones. This tiny classic Mickey is located in the middle of a blue tile area, to the left (as you face the attraction) and near a gold stripe. A second set of white stones forms an imperfect (but close enough?) classic Mickey. This one is toward the bottom of a blue tile stripe, four feet toward the Mars planet from a black disc, which is near the lowest part of the blue tile stripe. Two other stone classic Mickeys are near a drain, which is in a circle of tiles to the left of the Mission: SPACE sign outside.
• Along the Mission: SPACE entrance queue, look for the Mission Control room behind windows. Three classic Hidden Mickeys appear on the overhead monitors from time to time during the video loops. One shows up on the far right monitor, on the lower part of the surface of Mars, which is on the left side of the screen. A second one, also on the rightmost monitor, is formed by three "status lights" at the lower right side of the screen.
• Count two monitors to the left to find three small waveform images that come together as a third classic Mickey on the lower left of the screen. Because of the glare from the monitors, my photos are suboptimal, but you can still make out the classic Mickeys on the screens.
• Inside the gift shop at the exit from Mission:SPACE at Epcot, stare at the ceiling at both sides of Mickey's side profile to find side profiles of Goofy (with his ears stretched out) and Donald!