Spaceship Earth was sponsored by the Bell System originally, from 1982 until 1984. Bell was broken up into smaller companies in 1984, and its parent company, AT&T became its own independent company.

AT&T would sponsor Spaceship Earth from 1984 until 2004.

With the new Siemens AG sponsorship, many changes were made to the ride and post show area.

The ride's updates include: new or changed scenes, new costumes, new lighting, new props, new musical score by Bruce Broughton, new narration and a new interactive ending.

The "time machine" vehicles now have an interactive screen where riders can choose their vision of the future.

The renovations were completed for a February 19th, 2008 reopening.

Spaceship Earth, the visual and thematic centerpiece of Epcot, weighs 16 million pounds -- more than three times that of a Space Shuttle fully fueled and ready for launch.

The outer "skin" of Spaceship Earth is made up of 11,324 aluminum and plastic-alloy triangles. Also, did you know that rainwater never falls off the sphere? It's absorbed into the ball and funneled away.

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