oAMERICAN SPACEFLIGHT TRILOGY
--lyrics by Ernest Clark, copyright (C) 1984

There was a time above this land when the shuttle did not fly;
When the steady points at twilight seemed forever far and high.
Long before Apollo reached up to touch the Moon,
When it seemed like the future could never get here soon.

But Future must to Present come, and thence into the Past,
And looking back, astonishment it all could be so fast,
From voices drawing ridicule from every public page
In what now seems in retrospect a wholly different age.

Look away, said they, turn hopes on high,
To the limitless seas beyond the sky.

Shoot off the rockets and see if they fly,
And if they explode, let us go and see why.
Make up an answer, and make it up soon,
Got us a decade for a man on the moon.

Watch live Olympics by satellite link,
Catch Earth in a camera, and watch the world shrink.
Probe all the planets, build an orbital truck,
Cheer for our heroes, and wish them all luck.
Cheer for our heroes, and wish them all luck....

Behind the home planet the sun is ascending,
From high, see how fragile, our planet, so frail.
Ocean and wasteland, cloud cover and farmland,
Womb and our cradle from which we set sail.

Think of the satellites we keep in Earth's company,
Sending our messages by night and by day,
Watching the weather, and checking our cropland,
Guards on a duty done no other way.

Steamships and airplanes which never get lost;
Direct-dial to Tokyo at trivial cost.
Time for a station, and factories soon,
We'll live to see people who live on the Moon.

Look at the Cosmos, such wonders to see,
Black holes in Cygnus, sky maps in UV.
Volcanoes on Io, color pictures from Mars,
Probes that already have left for the stars....

Oh, the first of the battles has been won,
We can do what must be done,
We have opened up the sky,
With no limit...if we try...

  < repeat first verse >
When it seemed like the future could never get here soon.
But we have seen the future...with more coming soon.