In this exciting age when everyone seems to be talking about the future possibilities of space travel, there is much speculation on what we will discover when we visit other worlds.โ โWalt Disney
Disney and space? Most of us Disney fans may think Disney and think Space Mountain and Mission: SPACE… but Walt Disney’s impact on the U.S. Space Program stemmed even further. DisneyParksBlog shares an incredible article below explaining how Disney impacted the space program and how we are still experiencing Walt’s love for space today.
Disney culture is filled with interesting coincidences, inspirations, and connectionsโone of the most remarkable and surprising is the influence of Walt Disney himself on the U.S. space program. That stimulus certainly raisedย publicย awareness and enthusiasm for space exploration, which in turn helped gain support for the formation of NASA and its Project Mercury, as seen in the new National Geographic scripted series โThe Right Stuff,โ premiering today onย Disney+. But Waltโs impact went even further.
The origins of this association came from Waltโs new venture into television in 1954, and the concurrent development of Disneyland. The realm of โtomorrowโ was a part of each, and in both cases, the futuristic notions and projects lagged behind the familiar subjects. โWalt was all set with animated material for Fantasyland, he had historical Frontierland stuff like Davy Crockett and Pecos Bill, and the True-Life Adventures filmsโฆthe Disney film archives were filled with these thingsโฆbut he had nothing for Tomorrowland,โ Disney Legend Ward Kimball told E Ticket Magazine in 1996.
Kimball had seen a popular series ofย Collierโsย magazine articles on space that began publication in 1952. โThese articles were by the foremost space experts of the time (Willy Ley, Heinz Haber, Werner von Braun and illustrator Chesley Bonestell) and I had been very interested in them,โ Kimball said. โWalt came back later and said, โThis is the way to goโฆthis is not science fiction, this is โscience factualโโฆwe know these things, so letโs get Von Braun and the others out here!โโ
The result was a hugely popular and highly influential series of TV hours. Kimball co-wrote, produced, directed, and appeared in: โMan in Space,โ airing on March 9, 1955, โMan and the Moon,โ airing on December 28, 1955, and โMars and Beyond,โ aired on December 4, 1957. โThe general public didnโt grasp the possibility of space travel,โ Kimball said. โThey had no conception of what was involvedโฆeven with three shows we werenโt able to do it as thoroughly as we wanted.โ
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The series of programs created a cultural phenomenon with the public, and its clear presentation of complex subject matter piqued the interest of another influential viewer. โThatโs why [President] Eisenhower, when he happened to see our โMan in Spaceโ program, was absorbed by it,โ Kimball said. โHe realized that he had generals in the Pentagon who didnโt understand or accept these ideas. At first, the military did not support Americaโs program for space exploration. He flew them all in, and for two weeks, he screened our program for his top Generals. Walt was very proud when Eisenhower called him about the program, and was so glad to accommodate him. The call came into the Studio, and I guess at first the switchboard didnโt believe it was the President of the United States!โ
Kimball realized that Walt Disney had been a key influence in the creation of the U.S. space program. โIt was a high point for me,โ Kimball said, โbecause I felt I was participating and being part of the future. I was rubbing elbows with the people who were going to take us to the moon, and to Mars, and beyond to other planets. This was an elixir that one couldnโt deny.โ
The connection of Disney and space has remained consistent and strong over the decades. Almost every concept rendering of Tomorrowland at Disneyland contained a majestic rocket ship, and attractions such as Flight to the Moon and its successor, Mission to Mars, were popular at Disneyland andย Walt Disney World. The romance and excitement of space created the iconic thrill ride Space Mountain, a staple at most Magic Kingdom-style parks worldwide; and from its very origins, EPCOT certainly had its eye on the future and the technologies created for, and derived from space exploration. Mission: SPACE opened at EPCOT in 2003, simulating astronaut training experiences on two different space missions, the thrilling and intense โOrange Missionโ and the gentler and more family-friendly โGreen Mission.โย
One of the most interesting moments in the confluence of Disney and the U.S. space program was the appearance of original Mercury Seven astronauts (subjects of the National Geographic series โThe Right Stuffโ on Disney+), Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper, along with Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin, at the opening of Space Mountain at Walt Disney World in 1975. An even larger reunion of the Mercury SevenโCarpenter, Cooper, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, Donald โDekeโ Slayton, and Betty Grissom (widow of Virgil I. โGusโ Grissom)โtook place two years later at the Disneyland Space Mountain opening.
One wonders if they were told, or were aware of, the fact that they were not just celebrating โspaceโ at these events, but by extension, celebrating the influential showman whose vision and work had played a nascent part in their careers and fame. Their intertwined histories created, as โThe Right Stuffโ celebrates, โan aspirational story about how ordinary human beings can achieve the extraordinary.โ
Today, Disney+ will premiere โThe Right Stuff,โย National Geographicโs new scripted series based on the iconic bestseller by Tom Wolfe. Produced by Leonardo DiCaprioโs Appian Way and Warner Bros. Television, โThe Right Stuffโย is an inspirational look at the early days of the U.S. space program, and the incredible story of Americaโs first astronauts, the Mercury Seven. Walt Disneyโs original 1950sย Disneylandย series TV shows โMan in Spaceโ and โMars and Beyondโ are also available on Disney+.
Source: DisneyParksBlog