The Spaceship Earth Story
Vol 1. No. 2 Date: 9/2/82
THE SPACESHIP EARTH STORY
Presented by The Bell System
Spaceship Earth, the theme show for all of Future World. and the focal point of Epcot Center is a journey through the history of communications. Here are a few details about this fascinating experience:
The Story: Somehow a show based on thousands of years of communications events has to be developed for Spaceship Earth, so WED show designers consulted author and lecturer Ray Bradbury, who developed a preliminary storyline. His concept was taken to Dr. Fred Williams, Dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California, and with his assistance, a timeline of significant events in the history of communications was developed. Once finished the timeline was studied for the changes in man's lifestyles which paralleled communication's progress, and from this they developed the 17 scenes in Spaceship Earth. After establishing the storyline, each scene was minutely researched to include every possible detail in the show.
To give you an idea about the attention paid to detail, in one scene, Johann Gutenberg examines a page from a Bible that has just come off a press. The page used in this scene is an exact replica of one from the Gutenberg Bible on display at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
The Structure: Spaceship Earth, the world' s largest geosphere, is supported on three pairs of steel legs and appears to "float" 15 feet above the ground. The structure not only serves as housing for the Spaceship Earth experience but each set of legs is also part of another structure containing service and show functions -- stores, guest restrooms, stroller rentals, camera sales, lockers and office areas.
The outside of Spaceship Earth is made of highly-reflective brushed aluminum covering a surface area of 150,000 square feet. Spaceship Earth measures 165 feet in diameter and encompasses a whopping 2,200,000 cubic feet of interior.
The aluminum panels proved to be the perfect choice because after an accelerated time test for weathering, there was no discernable deterioration on the finish. Technicians even created fake lightening to test the effect of strikes on the paneling.
The planetarium located atop the geosphere is twice the size of normal facilities and required a specially-made projector to accomodate the show.
29 DAYS OUT
© 1982 Walt Disney Productions
COMMENTARY
Spaceship Earth is such an extremely complex entity that its mere existence alone could be called an engineering miracle. From its structural technique to its metaphoric message, it is so completely symbiotic that, like its triangular exterior, it is often hard to separate its many and interconnected facets. Nevertheless, the intricate way in which the story of mankind was compiled and presented serves as a testament to the Art of Imagineering and its way of presenting history and factual information in a thoughtful, intelligent, and surprisingly entertaining way. In the future, E82 will go into greater detail on all aspects of Spaceship Earth’s development, construction, thematic structure, and four generations of evolution. But for now, I’d like to examine just exactly why she is encased into such a specialized material. Alucobond is quite literally (and appropriately) a space-age composite that was first manufactured the year we landed on the moon in 1969. Interestingly, like the Lunar-Lander, the original concept for Spaceship Earth was to be covered in metallic gold. After thorough research, it was determined that gold would retain heat and reflect the already blinding Florida sun. As a result, silver (known for being able to reflect heat) was chosen as the primary color of Spaceship Earth’s Geosphere. The brushed Aluminum surface solved the reflected light problem, and also led to a more thematically appropriate aesthetic.
To paraphrase from original the literature, Spaceship Earth's surface reflects the world it stands in tribute to. During the day, it softly defuses and refracts the blue skies, white clouds, and the green Earth. At night, her more prismatic qualities are revealed by the way breaks-up the color of a relatively small number of lights into hundreds of variating hues. In past years, the lighting schemes of Spaceship Earth were changed and more subtle variations enabled the sphere to reflect the lights of Future World and more specifically those of World Showcase. It is this description that encapsulates the visual meaning and message of Spaceship Earth: the precious sphere reflects Who We Are (W.S.) and our Collective Dreams for Tomorrow (F.W.).
Spaceship Earth’s Exterior Nears Completion in March 1982
© Kevin Fleming