Fire in the Sky

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 vowed 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

I dreamed last night of a little boy's first spaceflight
Burned into me, watching the black-and-white TV
There was a fire in the sky
I'll remember until I die
A fire in the sky
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 aimin' high
See her big jets burning, see her fire in the sky

Yet the gods do not give lightly of the powers they have made
And with Challenger and seven, once again the price is paid
Though a nation watched her 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 goin' to the stars, see our fire in the sky
Yes, we're going to the stars, see our fire in the sky