Greetings, Earthlings! When the Disneyland TV show aired, it was to feature programs from the various lands of Disneyland. Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland were easy enough to represent, but creating shows to represent Tomorrowland presented more of a challenge, since both on the air and in the theme park, it was supposed to represent science fact rather than fiction. In 1955, Man in Space premiered, offering viewers a realistic look at the possibilities of space travel. Later that year, Man and the Moon made its debut, showing viewers how scientists were preparing for a flight to the moon. On this day in 1957, the third in the Tomorrowland series was launched, Mars and Beyond, hosted, as usual, by Walt and his friend Garco, the robot. This show featured a humorous look at what man might find on Mars, but included predictions for the exploration of the red planet. For all three programs, scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun, one of the leading figures in rocket technology, was brought aboard as technical advisor. Dr. von Braun was delighted to participate, in the hopes that it would help broaden the public’s interest in the future of the space program. Offering an abundance of technical details for the Disney staff, Dr. von Braun was completely devoted to the Disney projects. When his official duties for the Army often took him to the West Coast he would then go to the Disney studios where he would work into the early morning hours with the artists and producers. Just a month after Mars and Beyond aired, the von Braun team launched Explorer 1, America’s first orbiting satellite, and just over a decade later, Dr. von Braun and his team would develop the Saturn rockets that launched men to the moon.
