Another article from a few years ago (yes, I changed all of the "AT&T"s to "Siemens"s).

• PARTICIPANT: Siemens
  
• SHOW TIME: 13:26 minutes
  
• CONSTRUCTION TIME: 2 years, 2 months - 40,800 labor hours
  
• WEIGHT: 16 million pounds
  
• HEIGHT: 180 feet ( 18 stories) above ground level
  
• DIAMETER: 165 feet
  
• CIRCUMFERENCE: 518.1 feet
  
• CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL: Alucobond, a thermal polyethylene core bonded to aluminum
  
• HIDDEN MICKEYS: The following Hidden Mickeys can be seen in the attraction:
  
• Renaissance Italy scene—on the page of a book behind the sleeping monk
  
• Hat in the teenage boy’s bedroom
  
• Alarm clock in the same room
  
• SUPPORT STRUCTURE: 3 pairs of steel legs 15 feet off ground
  
• TOTAL PAVILION AREA: 109,375 Sq. Ft.
  
• VOLUME: 2,200,000 cubic feet
  
• EXTERIOR SURFACE AREA: 150,000 square feet
  
• 5-POINT STAR CONFIGURATIONS: 12
  
• INDIVIDUAL TRIANGLES: 11,324
  
• INNER SPHERE: 1450 steel triangular panels
  
• PLANETARIUM: 150 feet in diameter
  
• HIGHEST POINT OF RIDE: 163 feet above ground level
  
• AVERAGE ANGLE OF DESCENT: 20 degrees
  
• STEEPEST ANGLE OF DESCENT: 39 degrees

Spaceship Earth, a shiny, silver geodesic sphere weighing 16 million pounds and measuring 180 feet high, is the architectural symbol of the Epcot® theme park. Standing on massive legs 16 feet above ground level, it forms an entranceway to Future World and sets the theme for a new kind of showplace for man’s achievements: past, present, and future.

Within the geodesic sphere is one of four ride-through adventures in Future World. Guests board vehicles which spiral up into the globe past three-dimensional scenes peopled with Audio-Animatronics® figures.

Presented by Siemens, Spaceship Earth highlights milestones in communications vital to man’s survival from Cro-Magnon cave paintings to electronic space communications. Scenes include Egyptian hieroglyphics, Phoenician traders, Greek dramatists, Roman and Islamic empire builders, medieval monasteries, Gutenberg’s print shop, Renaissance Italy, and Michelangelo at work on the Sistine ceiling. Then comes the important eras in modern communications—newspapers, motion pictures, telephones, radio, television, computers, and electronic networks for information.

Three years of painstaking research have gone into every detail of the show. Hieroglyphics are authentic, ancient dialects are correct, and the quadrant held by a medieval Islamic astronomer is an exact replica of the real thing. Even costuming for the 65 lifelike Audio-Animatronics® figures has been thoroughly studied for historical accuracy.

Spaceship Earth took two years and two months to construct—more than 40,800 labor hours. Computer aided design was used in part, even though CAD was still in its infancy. Next, a small model (1/16 inch = one foot) was made and tested in a wind tunnel against winds of 110 miles per hour. Once the final design was approved, construction began. First, over one hundred 14-inch diameter concrete-filled steel piles were driven into the ground to depths between 120 and 150 feet. These pilings became the foundation for the three pairs of legs which would support Spaceship Earth.

The geodesic sphere’s design required no scaffolding or temporary support during construction. Adjustable support beams, called quadrupods, were attached to an hexagonal platform resting on the six legs. This platform serves the attraction as a maintenance facility. Struts were attached to the quadrupods and to each other in circumferential rings. A pre-constructed 50-foot diameter top was eventually hoisted into position to complete the upper portion of the sphere. Then workers assembled the bottom portion underneath the support legs. The massive round column at the bottom of Spaceship Earth is an elevator connected to the structure.

Spaceship Earth is actually two separate spherical structures, one inside the other. The facade of the outer sphere is positioned two feet away from the inner core. Once the beams were in place for the inner sphere, 954 enclosure panels were placed over it. The panels were rubber-coated to waterproof the structure. The decorative outer sphere is set off from the inner sphere by 467 four-inch aluminum pipes called stand offs.

This outer sphere is made up of alucobond paneling (there are 11,324 individual aluminum facets making up the outer sphere). Alucobond is polyethylene plastic chemically bonded to two layers of clear anodized aluminum. There is one-inch spacing between the panels, allowing them to expand and contract in the Florida heat and permitting rainwater to flow through and subsequently into two gutter systems located at the geodesic sphere’s equator and below. Both gutters were sloped to drain water through the support legs and into the canals surrounding the Epcot® theme park. From there the water flows through a retention pond where oils and pollutants are removed before returning the water to the environment.

Once construction of the geodesic sphere was completed, Walt Disney Imagineers then installed the many sets and Audio-Animatronics® figures for the attraction (the ride system itself is not structurally connected to the sphere except at the utility structure). Each figure and special effects, including light, sound, and the unique smellitzers, were programmed; Spaceship Earth was ready to go.

“Spaceship Earth is more than a show about communications,” says show designer Pat Scanlon. “It’s a testimony to human enterprise for surviving and flourishing on this planet.”

Forty thousand years of human history are condensed into a 15-minute journey. The top portion of the sphere is a vast planetarium, 150 feet in diameter and the largest of its kind, where planet Earth is seen suspended in space, surrounded by thousands of sparkling stars.

Spaceship Earth blends special effects, music, dimensional sets, and lifelike Audio-Animatronics® figures into an entertaining and informative experience. It is based on a concept developed by science-fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, that Earth is man’s vehicle in space.