Countdown Towards Tomorrow

music and lyrics © Mark E. Horning, 23 July 2004 4/4 time

Refrain: D G D G

There's 5 seconds left, 'till we rocket toward tomorrow.

D D Em A

4 seconds left and the bird is set to soar

D G D G

3 seconds left, the runway’s clear before us.

D G G (A) D

2 seconds, 1 second, hear the engines' roar.

D G D A

I'm sitin' in the left hand seat, with a punk kid in the right

D G Em A

Who's never seen a good friend die when a rocket fails in flight

G G A A

He thinks he is the hottest thing, that's ever learned to fly

G G Em A

But I remember when I rode a missile through the sky.

G A D (G) Em

But I guess I can not fault him, or heap on too much scorn.

G A G D

We started flying rocket-planes before he was born.

And there's 5...

We go over the checklist, and the damn kid gets it right.

I'm feeling a bit generous, so I let him hit Ignite

The folks on orbit need all of the supplies we provide

But we pause for several seconds, 'till I ram the throttles wide.

We’ve little time for speeches, or traditions anymore

But the 5 second countdown, honors those who went before.

We Count 5...

Bring her down from orbit, line her up and land her clean.

Just another space flight and everything's routine.

Taxi to the fuel farm; fill 'er up with JP-8.

Then re-fill the LOX tanks, check the oil while you wait.

Grab a cup of coffee, and sandwich while you can.

We've only got an hour, till we fly to space again.

When there'll be 5...

It's isn't how it used to be, back in the days of old,

When space was an adventure, and a wonder to behold.

We've given up the romance, and we did it by design.

The corporation's main concern must be bottom line.

The benefits are lousy; we don't make what we're worth.

But still I've got the greatest job, on or off, the Earth

‘Cause there's 5... Yes there's 5...