10 Things You Didn't Know About Space Mountain

5. It Was Designed By A Real Astronaut

After finishing his career in space Mercury 9 and Gemini 5, astronaut Gordon Cooper joined Disney as the Vice President for Research and Development.

Cooper worked with Disney in its development of EPCOT but also helped with the design of Space Mountain. In an interview with People magazine he described it as "Space Mountain is about as close as you can safely get to actually being in space."