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.
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Mission Space: "The Insiders" FreeDisneyWorld.info
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.
Pre-Show for Mission: SPACE
You are invited to train for the very first mission to Mars aboard the X-2 Deep Space Shuttle at the International Space Training Center (ISTC) on the 75th anniversary of man’s first mission into space. Make your way to the Recruiting Center where you will choose a team—comprised of 4 members—for training.
Each team member will be given an on-board position with unique assignments to perform during the mission. The positions include Navigator, Pilot, Commander and Engineer. Before beginning the training exercise, trainees will watch an introductory video about the mission starring actor Gary Sinise.
The Journey to Mars
After the mission briefing, make your way inside the space capsule—sitting side by side with the other members of your team. Feel the rush of take-off as you embark on a thrill-packed training adventure through space to Mars.
During the simulation, rocket around the moon, experience a brief period of simulated hypersleep, and land on the reddened surface of Mars, before blasting back to Earth.
The outcome of your mission varies depending on how well you and your teammates perform your assignments.
Select the Orange Team or the Green Team
Mission: SPACE utilizes a multiple-arm centrifuge that spins and tilts to simulate the illusion of speed and gravitational forces. Realistic sounds from overhead and vivid video images only add to the experience of the simulation.
As an astronaut in training, you are given the choice to be a part of the Orange Team or the Green Team.
The Orange Team is a more intense training session and is the original version of the attraction, where you will experience forces up to 2.4G—more than twice the force of the Earth’s gravitational pull.
The Green Team has a less intense experience. You do not feel forces up to 2.4G when choosing this option. If you are prone to motion sickness, you should opt for the Green Team.
Post-Show of Mission: SPACE
After the attraction, visit the Mission: SPACE Advanced Training Lab, an interactive play space for Guests of all ages where you can compete in Mission: SPACE Race, enjoy an arcade-style game where you can explore Mars on foot, or create video postcards that can be sent via e-mail.
Guest Policies
- May cause motion sickness. Please see Cast Member at the attraction for further cautionary information.
- Guests must transfer from motorized scooter or ECV to an available wheelchair, then from the wheelchair to the attraction/ride vehicle.
- Expectant mothers should not ride.
- For safety, you should be in good health and free from high blood pressure, heart, back or neck problems, motion sickness or other conditions that could be aggravated by this adventure.
- Due to the nature of the experience, service animals are not permitted on this attraction.
- Video Captioning is available on selected monitors in this attraction. Please visit Guest Relations to obtain an activator.
- Guests must transfer from their wheelchair, motorized scooter or ECV to board the ride vehicle.
- Disney’s FASTPASS service, a reservation system that reduces time spent in line, is available for this attraction.
- Guests may rent attraction translation device units at Guest Relations locations in the Theme Parks with a refundable deposit.
- Guests with young children may take turns experiencing attractions. See a Cast Member for additional information.
- Mission Space: “The Insiders” FreeDisneyWorld.info
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.
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.
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
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.
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- Mission Space: “The Insiders” FreeDisneyWorld.info
Ride mechanics
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.
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