Mission: SPACE
| Mission: SPACE | |
|---|---|
| Park | EPCOT |
| Land / area | World Discovery |
| Type | Centrifuge motion simulator |
| Opened | August 15, 2003 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Operating |
Mission: SPACE is a centrifuge motion simulator attraction in World Discovery at EPCOT in Walt Disney World, Florida. Presented as training at the fictional International Space Training Center, the ride places four guests in a capsule aboard the fictional X-2 Deep Space Shuttle and asks them to carry out a flight to Mars or, in its gentler version, a flight in orbit around Earth. It is one of the most physically intense attractions Disney has built, using spinning and tilting to create sustained acceleration, and it replaced the former Horizons pavilion on the east side of the park, near Test Track and Spaceship Earth.
History
The attraction was built on the site of Horizons, a gentle dark ride about future living that closed permanently in 1999 after several years of intermittent operation. Construction of its replacement began soon afterwards. Disney worked with advisers connected to NASA in developing the training-centre premise, and the simulator hardware itself was built by Environmental Tectonics Corporation. The pavilion was originally sponsored by Hewlett-Packard.
Mission: SPACE opened to the public on August 15, 2003, with a ceremonial grand opening following on October 9, 2003. In its first form every crew flew the same mission: a voyage to Mars in the year 2036, timed in the story to follow the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first human spaceflight. A small tribute to the earlier attraction was retained in the building, with the Horizons emblem displayed in the pavilion.
Guest reaction to the ride's intensity led Disney to divide the experience. On May 19, 2006, a less intense version was introduced in which the centrifuge does not spin. The original spinning version became the Orange Mission, and the non-spinning version became the Green Mission; at first both still flew to Mars, differing only in the forces guests felt.
The attraction closed for refurbishment on June 5, 2017. When it reopened on August 13, 2017, the two missions finally had different stories. The Green Mission received an entirely new film, a comparatively calm tour in orbit around Earth ending with a landing through a thunderstorm. The Orange Mission kept the Mars destination but was given updated, higher-resolution imagery. The split has remained in place since, allowing guests to choose their level of intensity before they enter the queue's final briefing areas.
Experience
Guests queue through a facility designed to look like a working training centre, then are sorted into crews of four and briefed by the centre's Capcom in an introductory video. Each rider is assigned a job — commander, pilot, navigator or engineer — with two tasks to perform during the mission by pressing a button when prompted. If a rider misses a prompt, the spacecraft's automated systems perform the task instead.
The ride system consists of four centrifuges, each carrying ten capsules of four riders. On the Orange Mission the capsule spins and tilts, producing up to about 2.5 times normal gravity as the flight lifts off, slingshots around the Moon, passes through simulated hypersleep, and descends to a landing on Mars that riders help control with a joystick. On the Green Mission the capsule does not spin; it tilts as a conventional motion simulator while the film follows an orbit of Earth before the return and landing.
After the flight, guests exit through the Advanced Training Lab, a post-show area with interactive games and a play area for young children, and the pavilion's gift shop. The pavilion is also home to the Space 220 Restaurant.