In 1969, when I was 14 years old, I rode the flight to the moon attraction at Disneyland (owned by the Walt Disney Company, which also owns this magazine). I was underwhelmed. Among other tepid effects, a pump sucked air out of the riders' seat cushions with an audible hiss-a ruse intended to simulate the inertial force that mashes astronauts back into their chairs during liftoff as their bodies resist the rocket's forward thrust. A deflating whoopee cushion, I surmised, didn't quite capture the drama of shooting into space. What it did was deflate the dream I had idly nursed of becoming an astronaut. If I could have experienced something remotely as thrilling as real spaceflight, I might have resolved to undergo the requisite grueling training. In those days, the option to sample a journey into space did not exist. Now, to a surprising extent, it does. The new Mission: Space ride at Walt Disney World, outside Orlando, Florida, is an ambitious $150-million-plus effort to bring interplanetary travel to the masses. Although the "mission" lasts just four minutes, it was created with the aid of NASA scientists and is remarkably uncompromising. "It took my breath away," says three-shuttle-mission astronaut Rhea Seddon, who rode it with her three children. "They were all asking me if the actual launch was like that. I said it was certainly realistic." Engineers were still tweaking the ride when I arrived for a preview in June at the Planetary Plaza, a courtyard dominated by large fiberglass models of Earth, the moon, and Mars (see photo at right). Inside the building, the ride itself, like all things Disney, is embedded in a story. The year is 2036, and groups of four riders make up "Mars teams" in training to fly to the Red Planet. "Welcome to the International Space Training Center," says actor Gary Sinise, playing the role of capsule communicator, who appears on a video screen. "Those made uncomfortable by enclosed dark spaces, spinning, or loud noises should bypass this experience," adds an actress playing the flight director.
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