Disney has made several big-budget films with the backing of the US government to sell space travel to a new generation. But audiences don’t seem to care.

In 1954, Walt Disney was struggling to imagine tomorrow. Disneyland was set to open the following year and would be divided according to four themes: Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland. While there was plenty of preexisting material for Walt Disney to draw upon to design Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland, there was nothing upon which to base Tomorrowland. Disney looked to producer and animator Ward Kimball for ideas. His pitch? Outer space. The result was a three-part educational series, Man in Space (1955–57), cohosted by the German aerospace engineer Dr Wernher von Braun.

Von Braun’s background was

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