Prometheus, they say, Brought God’s fire down to Man, And we’ve caught it, tamed, it, trained it Since our history began Now we’re going back to Heaven, Just to look him in the eye And there’s a thunder ‘cross the land, and a fire in the sky Gagarin was the first, Back in 1961 When, like Icarus, undaunted, He climbed to reach the sun. And he knew he might not make it, For it’s never hard to die, But he lifted off the pad, and rode a fire in the sky Yet a higher goal was calling, And we voted to reach it soon, And we gave ourselves a decade To put fire on the moon. And Apollo told the world We can do it if we try There was one small step, and a fire in the sky Then two decades from Gagarin, Twenty years to the day, Came a shuttle named Columbia To open up the way. And they said she’s just a truck, But she’s a truck that’s aiming high. See her big jets burning, See her fire in the sky Yet the gods do not give lightly Of the powers the have made, And with Challenger and seven, Once again the price is paid. Though a nation watched falling, Yet a world could only cry As they passed from us to glory, riding fire in the sky Now the rest is up to us: There’s a future to be won! We must turn our faces outward, We will do what must be done. For no cradle lasts forever, Every bird must learn to fly, And we’re going to the stars, See our fire in the sky Yes, we’re going to the stars, See our fire in the sky!