Keep Moving Forward

lightthiscandle:

A concept drawing from the mid-1960s showing a potential American-Soviet rescue mission.

As above, so below?

epcotexplorer:

EPCOT Center Obscura: The Literal World of Motion 

1978 plans for EPCOT’s Transportation pavilion reveal a grander entrance to the pavilion. While the pavilion’s signature omnimover attraction still would have had a sweeping up-ramp into the show building adding kinetics and flair to the atrium, the focal point would have rested on the large sculptural model of the globe that would have been supported by fountains, and perhaps rotated in sequence with the trains of omnimovers wending their way into the building. A subtle nod to the pavilion’s name, “The World of Motion” motif would have gracefully and symbolically supported the intent of the ride- to show that transportation, as a broad topic, was universal, and its future rooted in global and cultural convergence. 

Interesting…

epcotexplorer:

A Rare Look at the WestCOT WEDway: 

While the plans for a second EPCOT faltered, several concepts and ideas were taken seriously and given a fighting chance on a designer’s sketch pad. One of these, was the WEDway designed for the park.

This design for the WestCOT WEDway, while beautiful, is daunting in its aesthetics. Featuring retro-futurstic trappings and a vintage flair, the streamlined vehicle is more of a proper train, rather than just a novelty experience as the WEDway is in Tomorrowland. It is much larger, is fully enclosed, and has the appearance of being dedicated for longer voyages.  Further, the look of the vehicle suggests that it wouldn’t have been wholly dedicated to Future World. Given the size of WestCOT and the fact that it’s layout would have been vastly different from the original EPCOT, perhaps this would have run through the main Future World show building  and to World Showcase, where it would have supplemented the World Cruise, a scenic boat ride that would have stopped in each nation.

It is also highly possible that this would have been the Monorail for the park, as large tracks circling Space Station Earth were depicted in early WestCOT concept art. 

While it is quite improbable that we will ever know what the true intensions were for the WestCOT WEDway, this bit of history is, surprisingly, coming true in a small way. Next month, Disney’s California Adventure will open Buena Vista Street, a new entrance for the refreshed park. This new area will feature one ride: The Red Cars, modeled after the Pacific Electric Railway trollies that whisked around LA in the 1920s and 30s. While certainly not redolent of WestCOT, at least Disneyland’s second gate is getting her WEDway. 

For more on WestCOT: 

http://epcotexplorer.tumblr.com/post/17320937538/westcot-what-could-have-been-what-could-be

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UPDATE: Thanks to a tip from a eagle eyed reader and some quick detective work, it looks like I’ve found the route for the WestCOT WEDway! While the train wasn’t meant for in park transportation, it was intended for its aesthetics to not totally be skewed towards Future World. Instead, the trains would have served all of the Disneyland Resort and been for practical guest use, much like Walt Disney World’s plans for their WEDway system. In Disneyland, the WestCOT WEDway line would have taken guests to and from their cars to the esplanade, by way of WestCOT’s front gate. Meanwhile, the existing Monorail line would have existed much in the way of WDW’s: to service the hotels and singular stops for the resort’s theme parks. These plans were drawn up in 1990, when Disneyland was under pressure to emulate her younger sister in becoming a full fledged resort destination. 

As an aside, these are the sorts of plans that I miss from Disney. Ambitious. Practical. Fantastic. WestCOT and WEDway could have been the epitome of unique Disney creativity. The company needs to tackle this kind of project again.

WestCOT would have been SOOOO cool.

spacewatching:

Challenger mission STS-51-L sample vehicle pass. Was meant to be used February 3, 1986 when she landed after her mission.

Strangely sad memento to one of NASA’s darkest days.

Oh, to be in that alternate universe…

(via lightthiscandle)

hellyesnasa:

Enterprise sits on SLC-6 at Vandenberg AFB on an early morning in 1985.

The first Shuttle mission from Vandenberg AFB was designated STS-62A and was scheduled to launch on October 15th, 1986 with Robert Crippen as commander. Shuttles launching from the West Coast would be exclusively into polar orbits.

The Challenger Accident and cuts to NASA’s budget along with cost overruns led to the cancellation of a West Coast Shuttle Launch Facility.

SLC-6 is used today to launch military Delta IV rockets.

Photo Credit: USAF

Challenger ruined everything. :-(

fyeahcosmonauts:

In honor of Women’s Day, here are two all female crews that were planned, but never made it to reality.

Voskhod 5 (1966): intended to be a 10 day mission with a spacewalk. Included the other four women selected in the first female group: Valentina Ponomareva and Irina Solovyova as the prime crew, with Tatyana Kuznetsova and Zhanna Yorkina as their backups. Cancelled after the death of Chief Designer Sergei Korolyov in 1966.

Visiting Mission to Salyut 7 (1986): was to have a crew of Svetlana Savitskaya (she made the first female spacewalk in 1984), Yekaterina Ivanova and Yelena Dobrokvashina. Cancelled after Salyut 7 started to have problems.

(Sources: 1, 2, 3)

It would have been really cool to have an all-female crew on a space mission. The reverse has certainly happened often enough!

(via asonlynasacan)

ubergrid:

Salyut-9 (by povorot)

“What might a soviet orbital laser have actually looked like? And what if one had actually been secretly launched in the late eighties?”

Reblogging as a reference for Galactic Encounters…

(via itsfullofstars)

Buran!

(via spaceshares)

epcotexplorer:

WestCOT: What Could Have Been, What Could Be

Given the fact that Disney California Adventure celebrated it’s 11th anniversary yesterday, and is on the brink of being a totally refreshed park, at least in terms of (large) offerings, now is a time as good as any to discuss some of the original plans for the Disneyland Resort… and possibly what they could mean for Walt Disney World, and EPCOT. 

Originally, Disneyland was supposed to follow the Walt Disney World model of acquiring a second park and have it based in exposition, technology, and world culture. A second EPCOT, this park would have taken the original layout of the park, amended it for size constraints, fixed some of the problems of the original, but still relied on the same basis in showmanship and theme. That’s the crux of the issue, in my mind. 

WestCOT was to feature a 300 foot tall gold geosphere, double the size of Spaceship Earth, and dubbed SpaceStation Earth. Future World would have been contained in one massive building at the foot of it, and would have featured less topics than the original Future World of the east, but would have allowed for more connections between topics, and perhaps, more attractions because of it.  The World Showcase planned for WestCOT is the World Showcase of a expansionist’s dream for Walt Disney World. Featuring several planned nations for EPCOT Center, such as Russia, Egypt, and Equatorial Africa, ideas would have been made a reality. Also of note, a “World Cruise” would have linked all of these nations with one lavish and thematic boat ride around the lagoon they were situated on. 

This, of course, is excuse enough for any native of Florida, or subsequent frequent visitor to retort angrily, and want these offerings to come to EPCOT, the original, first.

And I wouldn’t blame them… if I didn’t think that eventually these additions would have eventually found a home in Florida too. 

In my mind, it’s inevitable that the attractions and improvements for WestCOT would have been duplicated for EPCOT Center simply by nature of how the Walt Disney Company works. 

Reliant on brand and on franchises, and yes, even on synergy, adding a “second” EPCOT to the roster of Disney’s parks and offerings would solidify it’s place amongst the other bevy of entities Disney has a image based on. If EPCOT/WestCOT suddenly became more than just a singular park in Florida, and appealed to more people, it would require updating. These updates, would thusly be applied for a larger audience, but focused on a narrowed topic- The topics expressed in a EPCOT/WestCOT park. Essentially, they would be in line with what the park actually needed in terms of modernization, as opposed to the changes made in the 90’s that changed it fundamentally in attempts to modernize. Essentially, keeping the format and feel of EPCOT Center, while making the content exist within that mold. CommuniCore’s change to Innoventions comes to mind as an example of how form, function, and content were all drastically changed, and in this case, without matching the park around it. 

With WestCOT/EPCOT as a definable franchise in Disney’s domain, EPCOT in Florida would no longer be a niche market in which investment is sent to, hesitantly. It would be something more akin to a Magic Kingdom, where certain type of offering is thought up, created, and sent to both, bettering both of the parks.

A caveat, though. Would this homogenize some of the basic topics and differences between resorts? Yes. Would this make Walt Disney World a tad less unique in the fact that it is the ONLY Disney resort, worldwide, to boast such a unique, daring, and entertaining show case? Yes. 

But at the same time, it saves EPCOT from itself, gives it new purpose and direction. I think that’s a wonderful thing. WestCOT might just be a idea, pushed back, for now, but it will always represent a smarter direction for the whole company.

Fitting, given the lofty subject matter it can showcase. 

WestCOT would have been amazing. 

epcotexplorer:

Journeys in Space: 1978 Art for EPCOT’s Space Pavilion

The fairly rare art above conceptualizes one of EPCOT’s more illusive attractions: Journeys in Space.

Despite addressing a core topic for Future World, this pavilion perpetually wavered between being a full fledged plan, that only needed executing, to a simple blue sky idea that never reached fruition.

In this early concept art for the pavilion, we are made privy it’s reliance on the EPCOT Model: a Omnimover. Guests, once they would have boarded the spherical vehicles as shown, would have been whisked away thought the cosmos and been illuminated on its mysteries, our forays into its exploration, and perhaps would have even charted their own course amongst the stars.

While this pavilion was to exhibit space, and space travel, it would have been unique as the showplace would have also served as the actual environment that was on display. As seen above, the ride already exists within the pavilion as being perceived “out in space”. In fact, the pavilion was planned to be redolent of a space station, with massive Omnisphere screens acting as windows to the universe.

It would have been so cool if the pavilion was like you were on a space station, like in The Living Seas, it was like you were in Sea Base Alpha, and you could walk around there and there were exhibits and stuff AND then there was also a ride, too… but the ride wasn’t the whole thing.