2003
I was running a little later than I like on a Saturday morning. By the time I checked in to the office at Disneyland Park, it was about 6:20 a.m. Things seemed a little too quiet. I took a look at the television. Mission control wasn't normally a favorite choice of programming.

"What's up?" I asked the clerk.

"They've lost contact with the space shuttle," he replied solemnly, as he went about his work.

No big deal, I thought. It is just a temporary glitch.

Then it dawned on me that the shuttle was supposed to be landing. The screen showed a trail in the sky that just didn't look right. It's not supposed to look like that. Oh no, I thought. No no no no. Not again - not again. The Columbia? Well, it is the oldest shuttle. But it was renovated a little while back. This can't be happening. Maybe they - maybe somehow they're maneuvering their wounded craft to safety. No, not at that height, not at that speed, not at those temperatures. It isn't supposed to look like that. Oh my goodness. Those beautiful, talented, smart, brave souls.

A national tragedy -an international tragedy- is not the best way to start out your day.

But the show had to go on. This was the Happiest Place on Earth, and - even if the flag in Town Square was at half mast, even if some people were going to wake up, discover what had happened, and cancel their trips to the Disneyland Resort and thereby render it a slow day at the park - we had a role to play. We were inside the berm. It was time to make magic.

Make magic is what we did, even as we took turns communally grieving backstage.

It is no surprise that the same young country that produced the Wright brothers and Walt Disney was also the same nation that has been one of the only players in the space race all along, won the race to the Moon, and built five space shuttles.

Being a young country, the United State of America was created (and continues to welcome) people who were by nature adventurers and explorers - innovative people who seek freedom, discovery, and opportunity, coming from around the world because they're seeking hope. Those kinds of people aren't lazy, are content with the status quo. They are people of fortitude.

That is why we had to take charge in the space race, and why will continue to explore our solar system and beyond. We won't give up. We can't, because it is against our nature.

The question for us as Disney aficionados is whether or not Disney will continue to have a symbiotic relationship with the space program. It is almost certain Disney will continue to draw on the theme of space travel and colonization for popular theme park attractions and underperforming movies. But will Disney continue to bring the real accomplishments and plans of NASA and space contractors to the masses in an inspiring way?

The truth most of my generation has come to realize is that only a handful of us will have the privilege of actually travelling into space. Widespread human space travel is not going to happen any time soon. China is what, the third country to even come close to send people into space aboard its own rockets?

In the meantime, Disney can step up and fill in the gap between that reality and our imaginations, and I sure hope Disney does.

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