Air & Space Smithsonian – September 2019

My Trips to the Moon

SURE,NEILARMSTRONG,BUZZALDRIN,ANDMIKECOLLINS

DIDITBETTER.BUTI DIDITFIRST.

byLeonardDavid

From 1955 to1961,

theTWA-sponsored

“Rockettothe

Moon”wasthe

E-ticketattraction

ofTomorrowland,

theneighborhood

oftheDisneyland

themepark

modeledaftera

speculativeutopian

future.

EARLIERTHISSUMMER,wecelebrated
the half-centuryanniversaryofthefirsthuman
touchdownonthemoon.I don’twanttodimin-
ish thatheroicachievement,butfortherecord,
I repeatedlycrossedthevacuumvoidbetween
Earthandthelunarlandscapeinthelate1950s
andearly1960s.
It wastrouble-freespacetravel.Nobulkyspace
suit,noeatingfroma tube.AndnoNewYork
Cityticker-tapeparadeuponanyofmyreturns.
MypointofdeparturewasTomorrowland,
a futuristicutopiacompletewitha visionary,
one-of-a-kindspaceportrightthereinAnaheim,
California—25milessoutheastofLosAngeles,and
withinhitchhikingrangeofmyhomeinSanDiego.

TomorrowlandwasoneofWaltDisney’sfive

original“lands”withintheDisneylandamusement

parkthatopenedinJuly1955.I neverhadjungle

feverenoughtokeepmeinAdventureland.I didn’t

wanttotravelbackintimewithinFrontierland.

MainStreetsoundedwaytoopedestrian.More

promisingwasFantasyland,butwatchingTinker

Bellflutteraroundontinywingsdidn’tsuggestto

meanyimmediateorviableanswertointerplan-

etarypropulsion.

ButTomorrowlandgotme.This,afterall,was

thespecificpartoftheparkthatWaltDisney

himselfhadpromisedwouldpresent“astepinto

thefuture,withpredictionsofconstructivethings

tocome.”

14 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com

I WAS THERE

© DISNEY