WALT DISNEY JUNIOR TELEVISION and Mickey and Minnie Mouse recently hosted the Astronauts of NASA‘s final Space Shuttle Mission along with the Boys & Girls Club from East Los Angeles for a special tribute to the dreamers.
Held at DISNEY STUDIOS Burbank home, the media day for MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE SPACE ADVENTURE included a screening of the upcoming television special, a Q & A and photo opportunities with the Space Shuttle ATLANTIS team.
Astronauts Chris Ferguson (Commander), Doug Hurley (pilot), Sandy Magnus (Mission Specialist) and Rex J. Walheim (Mission Specialist) were on hand to support the introduction of the space program through the DISNEY Junior channel.
Combining the rich heritage of Disney’s beloved classic characters with state-of-the-art CG animation, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse introduces a whole new generation of preschoolers to problem solving and early math ideas through contemporary storytelling.
For DISNEY‘s future astronauts, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto and Daisy and everyone who joins them for their space odyssey in MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE SPACE ADVENTURE, they’ll find the two most exhilarating moments for any astronaut are the experience of T-minus 10 and the view from space.
NASA Space Shuttle Astronauts, prior to Lift-off, are strapped in their seats for up to three hours, with a slow, forceful build-up, waiting as the vibration as the engines intensify under them with enough forward motion to propel them beyond the earth’s gravitational pull and into the atmosphere and even further into orbit.
Having been in a Space Shuttle Simulator, the experience for the common, non-astronaut, journalist is a little different. It’s extremely claustrophobic with intense rocking motion coupled with monumental vibration, beyond even the most intense earthquake ever experienced.
Don’t be fooled. It truly takes someone with “The Right Stuff” someone with passion, dedication, desire, and uncommon valor: These Astronauts are truly extraordinary men and women.
As the space program is poised on new frontiers and simultaneously forced to review and redefine their goals and funding remains questionable one wonders what will become of this program that is tandem to discovery.
Conquering new frontiers is ingrained in the spirit of mankind. From my decedents who braved a sure death crossing the Atlantic to find a new home free from religious persecution; to those who moved West, braving sure death, to those who looked at the wind and the sky and designed bird wings, to the generations before us who as children watched as Neil Armstrong opened the APOLLO 11 hatch door, descended a small steel ladder and took “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he stepped onto the Moon’s surface, knowing someday, they would also explore the universe and then saw their brave colleagues fall for their dreams. We watched as death shook us, on Challenger and Columbia, and still decided yes, we as a people are this: We are the dreamers.
Now, here we are today knowing the next frontier, just like those in our past, will be conquered and we will move forward. The space program will advance to the Red Planet; we will plant the American Flag on Mars just as we did on the Moon. We will pass the torch to a younger generation, to the digital age, to the few who have the explorer spirit still ingrained in them.
Join Mickey and his friends as they introduce the space program to a whole new generation: To the dreamers of tomorrow.
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Space Adventure premieres Monday, September 12, 2011on the Disney Channel.