When Joe Rohde announced his Disney retirement last year, no one would have expected his next move to involve creating experiences for astronauts, but that’s exactly what the Imagineering legend is doing after moving to Virgin Galactic as its first ever experience architect.
Joining as a strategic advisor to help design and guide the overall experience journey for future astronauts, friends and family, Rohde brings more than 40 years of experience from Disney, where he led projects, including the likes of Pandora: The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom and Guardians of the Galaxy, Mission: Escape at Disney California Adventure.
“I spent 40 years with Disney Imagineering and that word, ‘Imagineering,’ refers to the fusion of imagination and engineering,” said Rohde. “This means I’ve come from a tradition where if you are imagining something, you are imagining that thing is going to be made real. That’s also been going on here at Virgin Galactic, and I’m delighted to be joining at this incredible moment in time when it is about to blossom into public awareness.”
Virgin Galactic is currently developing a spaceplane designed to take tourists to the edge of earth’s atmosphere, with the operation running out of New Mexico’s Spaceport America. It’s not a cheap trip though, with customers paying about US$250,000 (€205,000, £177,000) a head to experience space and become astronauts for a day. It’s thought that Virgin Galactic founder, Sir Richard Branson, is only one or two more test flights away from realising a dream years in the making.
“This is one of the most profound things that can happen to you,” Rohde continued. “To go beyond the reaches of the earth, to space, and look back down at it. It’s a spectacularly unique opportunity with huge potential for transformational change in a person…What Virgin Galactic is doing, in democratising space travel, has reached a moment where it is about to enter history. It’s happening right here in New Mexico, and it’s very rare to be a person who gets to be in the place, at the time, that history begins.’’
When Joe Rohde announced his Disney retirement last year, no one would have expected his next move to involve creating experiences for astronauts, but that’s exactly what the Imagineering legend is doing after moving to Virgin Galactic as its first ever experience architect.
Joining as a strategic advisor to help design and guide the overall experience journey for future astronauts, friends and family, Rohde brings more than 40 years of experience from Disney, where he led projects, including the likes of Pandora: The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom and Guardians of the Galaxy, Mission: Escape at Disney California Adventure.
“I spent 40 years with Disney Imagineering and that word, ‘Imagineering,’ refers to the fusion of imagination and engineering,” said Rohde. “This means I’ve come from a tradition where if you are imagining something, you are imagining that thing is going to be made real. That’s also been going on here at Virgin Galactic, and I’m delighted to be joining at this incredible moment in time when it is about to blossom into public awareness.”
Virgin Galactic is currently developing a spaceplane designed to take tourists to the edge of earth’s atmosphere, with the operation running out of New Mexico’s Spaceport America. It’s not a cheap trip though, with customers paying about US$250,000 (€205,000, £177,000) a head to experience space and become astronauts for a day. It’s thought that Virgin Galactic founder, Sir Richard Branson, is only one or two more test flights away from realising a dream years in the making.
“This is one of the most profound things that can happen to you,” Rohde continued. “To go beyond the reaches of the earth, to space, and look back down at it. It’s a spectacularly unique opportunity with huge potential for transformational change in a person…What Virgin Galactic is doing, in democratising space travel, has reached a moment where it is about to enter history. It’s happening right here in New Mexico, and it’s very rare to be a person who gets to be in the place, at the time, that history begins.’’
