Countdown

(Coming on forty-five minute point in our countdown
Everything going smoothly
T-minus 45 minutes and counting
Coming up on t-minus 40 minutes
T-minus 40 minutes and counting
This is shuttle launch control)

Lit up with anticipation
We arrive at the launching site
The sky is still dark, nearing dawn
On the Florida coastline

Circling choppers slash the night
With roving searchlight beams
This magic day when super-science
Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams

(We had a AEO abort, go for test
Tester says they are go for launch
At the present time we know of no major problems
As we enter final hold)

Floodlit in the hazy distance
The star of this unearthly show
Venting vapors, like the breath
Of a sleeping white dragon

Crackling speakers, voices tense
Resume the final count
All systems check, T-minus-nine
As the sun and the drama start to mount

The air is charged, a humid, motionless mass
The crowds and the cameras
The cars full of spectators pass
Excitement so thick, you could cut it with a knife
Technology high, on the leading edge of life

(T-minus twenty-seven seconds
We applaud for redundant sequencers start
T-minus twenty seconds and counting
T-minus fifteen, fourteen, thirteen
Minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four
We have locked the main engine start, we have)

The earth beneath us starts to tremble
With the spreading of a low black cloud
A thunderous roar shakes the air
Like the whole world exploding

Scorching blast of golden fire
As it slowly leaves the ground
It tears away with a mighty force
The air is shattered by that awesome sound

(T-plus thirty seconds, plus thirty-five
Columbia, Houston you are go at forty)

Excitement so thick, you could cut it with a knife
Technology high, on the leading edge of life
Like a pillar of cloud, the smoke lingers high in the air
In fascination with the eyes of the world we stare

(Columbia is now turning towards
Precise window in space for main engine cutoff
One, two minute and forty seconds
Columbia now thirty-nine nautical miles altitude
Forty-two nautical miles downrange
Columbia you're looking a little hot
And all your calls will be a little early
Young and Crippen really moving out now
Velocity now reading just sixty-two hundred feet per second
What a view, what a view
Glad you are enjoying it
G800 to LOS
Columbia Houston, ah we have forty seconds to LOS
You're looking good burning over the hill
We'll see you in Madrid
And we enjoyed the music Bob, thank you
Ah, we enjoyed, we just wanted to share some with you