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Space Mountain opened on January 15, 1975 (1975), almost 3 years after the park originally opened. The ride actually has two separate tracks inside the building. These tracks are named side Alpha and Omega, and their track lengths are 3196ft and 3186ft respectively. The ride is actually built 'outside' the park meaning that it is outside the railroad track. The entrance has you go down a slight grade to go under the Walt Disney World Railroad tracks and then back up into the ride. The exit does the same thing except is on a moving sidewalk. Colonel James Irwin, the pilot of the Lunar Module on Apollo XV, was the first official rider.[3]
The roof of the building has the distinct feature of having the roof supports on the out side of the building. The reason was so the inside roof could have a clear and flat surface for the projection of stars and other space objects. The look has stayed modern looking even for the past 30 years. The special effects inside of the mountain were considered cutting edge for 1975, but the way they are achieved is rather simple. The primary stars are generated by having a bluish white light shine onto a mirrored ball which then reflects tiny moving points of light around the room. There are approximately 20 such balls in the mountain. Some also use double lights flickering back and forth in an occilating pattern to generate a twinkling effect. The rapid shooting stars across the ceiling are simply elipsoidal spotlights on a rotator mounted directly over the station. The asteroid and galaxies are then simple photographic projections dimmed down enough so that the track cannot be seen.
The ride itself is incredibly complex. It is supported by over 4,000 individual pieces of steel. Every foot of track in the mountain must be accessable via stairs or walkways which makes the interior resemble a steel jungle. With over 500 work lights in the building for emergencies, there are over 12,000 feet of electrical wiring inside of space mountain. Finally, two tracks are twisted around all of these things but nothing can ever come within nine and a half feet above the track or five feet on either side for the riders safety.
The rides top speed also varies. The lubricants used on the wheels of the trains tends to harden when it cools off. Therefore, every morning the ride has a top speed of about 25 mph due to the higher coefficient of friction. However, after the grease heats up, it becomes a very liquidy substance and its friction drops, allowing top speeds to range between 28 mph and 31 mph. The fastest point on the ride is at the bottom of the drop immediately following brake zone 11.
There were many things that Space Mountain was a first of. The Space Mountain built at Walt Disney World was the first of all the Space Mountains to be built. It is also the first roller coaster that was fully controlled and managed by a computer system. It was also the first roller coaster to be built completely inside a building.
There have not been many changes to Space Mountain other than minor upgrades. In 1980 (1980), the rockets were replaced by an upgraded rocket and safety system. The original rockets had a simple seat belt and the new ones had an upgraded lap bar. The rocket safety seats were upgraded again in 1998 (1998) to a T-bar lap bar. The ride is currently going through a rehab that is scheduled to take place between April 19, 2009, and November 21, 2009.
The ride has had a few sponsors through the years. Originally RCA was the sponsor from 1975 (1975) till 1983 (1983) until it was sold to GE who kept the RCA sponsor till 1985 (1985). From 1996 (1996) to 2005 (2005), FedEx was the sponsor.
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