March 21 - Mission to Mars

On this day, in 1975, the Mission to Mars ride began taking guests to the red planet in Disneyland's Tomorrowland. Walt Disney had an abiding interest in space travel. Beginning with the depictions of moving through galaxies in the Rites of Spring segment of 1940's Fantasia, he knew that animation was the perfect medium to explore what was, at that point, science fiction. In the early Fifties, he struck up a relationship with Wernher von Braun, the man who would oversee a great deal of NASA's projects, including going to the moon. Walt and Wernher collaborated on a series of space related episodes for the Disneyland television series. Using animations based on science provided by Wernher, Walt's enthusiasm for the topic helped sell space travel as an attainable reality to the American public.

Image copyright Disney

In addition to the Disneyland episodes, Walt sought Wernher's advice on an attraction for his new theme park. When Disneyland opened in 1955, it included Rocket to the Moon, a show sponsored by TWA that simulated what it might be like to travel into space. Three rings of seats surrounded a round screen on the floor and another on the ceiling. The screens were treated like windows in a spacecraft: the floor showed where you'd been and the ceiling showed where you were going. Over a ten minute presentation, guests experienced lift off, travel to and around the moon (but not a moon landing) and a return to earth.

Image copyright Disney

In 1962, TWA ended its sponsorship and McDonnell Douglas took over. When Tomorrowland got an upgrade in 1967, the Rocket to the Moon show building was demolished and a new, bigger theater was built, same design but with four rings of seats (that now moved) and an Audio-Animatronic pre-show. The attraction also got a new name: Flight to the Moon. Two years later, reality caught up with the show when Neil Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind on the actual moon. Flight to the Moon would remain a part of Tomorrowland for six more years, even though it clearly wasn't a vision of the future anymore. The last trip to the moon would take place in January 1975.

Image copyright Disney

Less than three months later, the show would reopen. It was essentially the same setup, but had now been rethemed (and renamed) as a Mission to Mars. It still wasn't terribly futuristic but Mission to Mars would remain in operation until November 1992. After the building remained shuttered for several years, it's now a dining area known as Redd Rocket's Pizza Port.

Flight to the Moon was also an original attraction in Tomorrowland when the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, which means it was dated before it opened. The Florida version was also changed to Mission to Mars in 1975 and lasted all the way to October 1993, almost a year longer than the Disneyland version. Space travel lives on in Florida, though it has changed venues. The thrill ride Mission: Space in Future World in Epcot actually does simulate taking off on an extraterrestrial adventure, complete with stomach churning g-forces and it's even been updated since it's 2003 opening. I think Mission: Space's continuing popularity means that both Walt and Wernher are somewhere smiling and anticipating what will come next.