Part 2 of 2

Wallpaper pictures of the line queue, pre-show, and post-show area of "Mission: SPACE" in Future World in Epcot - presented in 4:3 regular and 16:10 widescreen formats!

Walking up to the entrance of the "Mission: SPACE" building, we see giant round structures resembling planets as well as a scale model of the Moon, complete with marking indicating the landings of various NASA and Soviet spacecraft including the manned Apollo missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17).  Inspirational music plays over the speakers and has occasional sound clips of famous speeches or sound effects relating to the U.S. space program.

Standing by the Moon are two cast members ready to hand us either a green or orange card depending if we want to be a part of the Green Team (less intense) or Orange Team (more intense, original version of the ride).  After that we walk along a wall with famous quotes relating to space travel and we enter the building through the large red planet.

Once inside the first part of the building the real line queues begin.  Orange Team goes to the right of the capsule / pod on display and enter the main building that way, while the Green Team and FASTPASS lines go off to the left side.  From 2003 to early 2006 the Green Team line was the Single Rider Line.  The Single Rider Line was removed when the ride went through a brief refurbishment to create the two different versions (spinning versus non-spinning) of the ride.

After going around a wall we see that we're in the main part of the line queue, which really isn't that large of a room.  Hanging from the ceiling is a prop spaceship used in the 2000 movie Mission to Mars, while on the far wall (next to the Orange Team line queue) is a massive cross-section of a "gravity wheel" for a near-future concept spacecraft.  It slowly revolves around like a wheel to produce artifical gravity in space.  It's a fairly neat display, and if you look closely in the center of the wheel, you may just spy the old logo for "Horizons."

After the main line queue we go through the merger point with the FASTPASS line before going down the left or right side of the next hallway to the Training Operations.  On the right side of the hallway is a glass wall looking into a control room occasionally staffed by a real cast member.  The computers and setup of this control room should look quite familiar to those of you who were fans of the old "Mission to Mars" ride in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom.  The left side of the hallway is decorated with pictures of Soviet and American astronauts and their historic 'firsts.'  The pictures even go into the future and show politically correct visions of future astronauts as they live in space and make the first manned (errr, human) trip to Mars.  This part of the line queue moves the slowest as we have to wait for one of the two preshow rooms (two for each team, so a total of four preshow rooms) to be clear before we can proceed.

<<<WARNING ---- START OF THE SPOILERS>>>

Each preshow room has ten columns for four people, allowing forty riders into the room at a time.  Large flat-screen TVs hang on the top of the wall ahead of us, and standing between the doors on the same wall are four empty astronaut spacesuits.  Each spacesuit represents one of the following crew positions: Navigator, Pilot, Commander and Engineer.

When the preshow video starts we're greeted by Gary Sinise (of Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Ransom, Mission to Mars, and CSI: New York fame), one of the ficticous head astronauts at NASA and the International Space Training Center (ISTC).  He's our host for this experience and also plays the role of CAPCOM (Capsule communicator, a fellow astronaut on the ground who relays communications between NASA and the manned spacecraft).

So for this ride we play the role of astronaut trainees who are here for flight training, claimed to be "the most thrilling experience that any astronaut candidate will ever have."  Sinise then shows us our spacecraft --- the X-2 Deep Space Shuttle.  "It's powered by solid hydrogen," claimes Gary Sinise, "and can accelerate from zero to 6,000 in sixty seconds."  As a comparison, it took 150 seconds for the first stage of five massive F-1 engines to push the mighty Saturn V rocket to a height of forty miles and a speed of 6,000 miles an hour.  Just for fun, the Apollo spacecraft orbited the earth at 17,400 miles an hour and later sped away to the Moon at 24,500 miles an hour.

The preshow video then goes on to explain that we've been divided into teams of four and we're briefly introduced to the different positions.  Gary Sinise then hands over the video to our Flight Director (Only ranked as high as a Lieutenent?  And she's our Flight Director?  So much for having somebody experienced for this important role.)  The FD takes on the important issue of remembering your team number and following it to the correct spot in the next part of the building.  This seemingly simple task still confuses people, so make sure that you know where to go and which way to point to for the "confused" ones.  The FD then gives the standard warning about what lies ahead (spinning for Orange Team, but enclosed dark spaces and simulators for everybody else).

That's basically it for the first preshow, and a moment later the doors open and the cast members take us out one row at a time to the next part of the experience (more waiting and preshow number two).  After a cast member makes sure that everybody is ready to continue, the second preshow begins again with Gary Sinise at the helm.  This preshow is much more interesting as he briefs us on our flight path for the trip to Mars which includes a slingshot around the Moon, going into hypersleep, and then landing at an established base near the north polar ice cap.  He then goes into more detail about the different jobs for each crew member before the Flight Director gives us our final boarding instructions.

"Good luck Mars team!  You are on the clock!"

After the doors in front of us open everybody piles into the capsule taking their assigned seat.  You have to pull down on the harness, and after everybody is secure, a cast member lowers the control panel and basically locks us into the pod.  The two main buttons are clearly labeled by the window / video monitor, but the capsule is filled with lots of buttons and switches just begging to be touched.  Some of the toggle switches can make lights turn on or off, and two small round buttons between each seat can make a loud and irritating noise that can be used to bug the other riders.  Otherwise, all of the buttons and switches are meaningless and have no effect on the ride except for the two main buttons, and even then, you really don't have to hit those buttons if you don't want to.  The flight computer will automatically override the system for those people who miss their buttons at the designated times.

For the flight itself, you have to remember that this ride supposedly takes place around the year 2036 and the spacecraft isn't anything like any of today's or yesterday's famous rockets.  The X-2 Deep Space Shuttle is a large vehicle that apparently has incredibly powerful engines and can handle like a fighter while even out in space.  You'll experience its handling after you emerge from hypersleep to see that a massive asteroid field is in your flight path and you need to make a quick escape.  After descending to near the Martian surface the autopilot conviently breaks and it's up to us to fly the spacecraft manually.  Technically, only the Commander would be doing the flying at this point but we all have control sticks in front of us, so everybody from Navigator to Engineer gets to fly the bird.  Somehow in the very thin Martian atmosphere the spacecraft can turn on a dime as well as perform pitch and roll maneuvers with precision.  We manage to set it down and it finally comes to a stop, but not before one last surprise in the mission.

The training mission is finished at this point and Gary Sinise salutes us, welcoming us to the Astronaut Corps.  Hooray!

<<<END OF SPOILERS>>>

After exiting the capsules, we then walk down a hallway and enter the large post show area, also known as "Mission Control Training" or the "Advanced Training Lab" for those who decided to opt out of the flight training mission.  The main activity here is "Space Race," an interactive game that pits two large teams against each other as they race across space.  It's loud, flashy, and kind of fun if you're looking for a quick activity to do before heading off to your next adventure at Epcot.  Other activities in the "Advanced Training Lab" include "Space Base" (a playground in the shape of a rocket for the smaller guests) and "Expedition Mars," a video game that simulates flying around Mars with a jetpack.

The entire ride then exits through a shop before guests emerge back in Future World.  This is also the entrance for those who want to skip the ride but still access the post show area, such as in "Test Track" next door.

Overall, "Mission: SPACE" is a fun experience and you'll get more out of it if you have an interest in space travel.  The flight through space an on Mars is pure Hollywood but the ride is still entertaining.  You just have to keep in mind that this is a theme park ride designed for families and not a high-tech NASA experience or anything.

Note - Each picture can be opened in one of two styles - regular (4:3 ratio) and widescreen (16:10 ratio). You may download and share these pictures, but please, do not modify or alter them in any way!

The regular 4:3 pictures all have a resolution of 1600x1200 (960x1280 for vertical pictures), unless it's otherwise noted.  They can also easily fit monitor resolutions of 1280x960 or even 2133x1600 without needing any special modifications.  Just select the image and have Windows stretch and fit it to the other 4:3 resolution.

The widescreen 16:10 pictures all have a resolution of 1440x900, unless it's otherwise noted.  They can also easily fit a resolution of 2560x1600 without needing any special modifications.  Just select the image and have Windows stretch and fit it to the other 16:10 resolution.

Warning - There will be some slight variations between the regular and widescreen pictures!

To help save bandwidth for the other visitors, please open each picture only once. If you like it, save it to your hard drive. You can also right click on the link and select "save as" instead of manually loading each picture.

- Epcot  Future World - "Mission: SPACE" - warning sign - 01 - regular

- "Mission: SPACE" - warning sign - 02 - regular

- "Mission: SPACE" - line queue entrance and life size capsule - 01 - regular, widescreen

- line queue entrance and life size capsule - 02 - regular, widescreen

- "Mission: SPACE" - line queue - Green Team entrance - 01 - regular

- "Mission: SPACE" - line queue - Orange Team entrance - 01 - regular

- "Mission: SPACE" - line queue - ISTC banner - 01 - regular, widescreen

- line queue - gravity wheel - 01 - regular, widescreen

- line queue - Mission to Mars spacecraft - 01 - regular, widescreen

- line queue - X-2 shuttle with a "space brake" - 01 - regular, widescreen

- line queue - ISTC control room - 01 - regular, widescreen

- line queue - Training Operations hallway - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "Mission: SPACE" - pre-show room - spacesuits - 01 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - floor - 01 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - video - X-2 Deep Space Shuttle - 01 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - video - CAPCOM - 01 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - video - Flight Director - 01 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - video - 01 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - video - 02 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - video - 03 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - video - 04 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - ISTC logo - 01 - regular, widescreen

- pre-show room - X-2 rocket preflight check - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "Mission: SPACE" - post-show - "Expedition Mars" - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "Mission: SPACE" - post-show - "Space Base" - 01 - regular, widescreen

- post-show - "Space Base" - 02 - regular, widescreen

- post-show - "Space Base" - 03 - regular, widescreen

- "Mission: SPACE" - post-show - "Space Race" - 01 - regular, widescreen

- post-show - "Space Race" - 02 - regular, widescreen

- post-show - "Space Race" - 03 - regular, widescreen

And now it's time for a few now vintage photos of "Mission: SPACE" and its surroundings.

- "Mission: SPACE" - old warning sign (2003 - mid 2006) - 01 - regular

- "Mission: SPACE" - old entrance (2003 - mid 2006) - 01 - regular, widescreen

- old entrance (2003 - mid 2006) - 02 - regular, widescreen

- "Mission: SPACE" - night - sign and old "Spaceship Earth" wand (before July 2007) - 01 - regular, widescreen