Space Mountain is a space-themed indoor roller coaster attraction located at five of the six Disneyland-style Disney Parks.

[5] The initial concept was to have four separate tracks, but the technology available at the time, combined with the amount of space required versus that which was available within Disneyland, made such a design impossible.

The Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland had the right amount of available land, and computing technology had improved significantly since the initial design phases.

Starring actor Lucie Arnaz, it was the first Walt Disney World network special, the previous one being syndicated.

[8] The success of Walt Disney World's Space Mountain prompted designers to revisit their original plan to build one for Disneyland.

[10] Six of the original seven Mercury astronauts attended Space Mountain's opening: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Senator John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.

On April 27, 2022, The Oriental Land Company announced that the current version of the attraction will close in July 31, 2024, in order to be completely rebuilt as part of a wider redevelopment of the park's Tomorrowland area.

The ride was praised for its unique storytelling and theme, its cutting edge visual effects, and honoring the legacy of Jules Verne.

Furthermore, the success of the ride allowed Disneyland Paris to see its first profits, after the financial troubles the company had run through shortly after opening the park.

The ride was designed to transform from the original version of Space Mountain to this special edition at night time only.

Screenwriter Max Landis wrote a feature film based on the Space Mountain attraction, which was developed for a short time at Disney.

One key plot point of the film involved the idea of people getting sent into hyperspace and, upon their return, realizing their souls had gone missing from them and they would eventually transform into terrifying monsters.

[17] The Space Mountain building is featured as an "easter egg" in the Disney films Meet the Robinsons (alongside Rocket Jets) and Tomorrowland.

On April 19, 2024, it was announced that Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec had been tapped to write a script for a Space Mountain film for Disney.

[19] This book presented Space Mountain as a research station orbiting a black hole and harnessing its power to travel through time.