From Tomorrowland to Mars

How Disney has shaped American ideas about the purpose and possibilities of space explorationFrom Tomorrowland to Mars examines how the Walt Disney Company has influenced American understandings of space exploration. For more than seventy years, Disney has transformed complex ideas about science, technology, and the future into accessible stories and immersive experiences. In doing so, it has helped shape public beliefs about the purposes of space exploration, the people who should lead it, and humanity’s future beyond Earth.Beginning with Disney’s collaboration on the 1950s “Man in Space” television programs, the book traces Disney’s engagement with space through Tomorrowland, EPCOT, movies, and contributions to NASA visitor centers. Drawing on archival research, media analysis, historical sources, and fieldwork, Wendy Whitman Cobb explores how Disney’s representations of spaceflight continue to influence expectations of the US space program and space policy in the twenty-first century.Combining insights from political science and media studies, From Tomorrowland to Mars shows how Disney has not simply reflected American enthusiasm for space but also participated in constructing the cultural and political meaning of exploration. It also shows how Disney helped generations of Americans imagine their future in space and why those visions continue to matter as humanity considers becoming a multiplanetary species through missions to Mars.