Countdown: A Chilling 23 Yr Old Tribute To Columbia

Rush-Signals | 2-1-03 | Neil Peart

[My Favorite Headache]

Rush- Countdown
Signals
1982

Dedicated today to Space Shuttle Columbia 2003 as it was written for the first launch in 1981. RIP.

Dedicated with thanks to astronauts of Space Shuttle Columbia Young & Crippen and all the people of NASA for their inspiration and cooperation-Rush

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

Floodlit in the hazy distance
The star of this unearthly show
Venting vapours, 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

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
Tears away with a mighty force
The air is shattered by the awesome sound

Like a pillar of cloud, the smoke lingers
High in the air
In fascination - with the eyes of the world
We stare...

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER(PAO)

- Columbia is now reaching precise window in space for main engine cutoff

Mark - 2 minutes, 40 seconds...Columbia now 39 nautical miles altitude,

42 nautical miles downrange...

CAPSULE COMMUNICATOR (CAPCOM)

- Columbia you're lookin' a little hot, and all your calls'll be a little early...

PAO

- Young and Crippen really moving out now velocity now reading sixty-two hundred feet per second

CREW

- What a view, what a view! CAPCOM

- Glad you're enjoying it CREW

- Jay, how does it all look? CAPCOM

- Columbia, Houston, er, we have forty seconds still... left; configure

LOS, you're looking good for an over the hill, we'll see you in Madrid.

And we enjoyed the music Bob, thank ya. CREW

- Ah, we enjoyed it, we just wanted to share something with ya

[Darksheare]

Thought of another one, Def Leppard "Rocket".
But I don't have the full lyrics on hand at the moment.
Have to go to Leo's Lyrics and pull it from their site in a bit.
But it won't fit as well as Floyd's "Learning to Fly"
(Which, if I remember correctly, came out right after Challenger was destroyed with all hands.)

[Uncle Jaque]

Re: "... a star of silvery metal bright
where gossamer glass from icy dew
gave way; and roamed in rarefied space's night
the vessel of Columbian dreams we knew
now perished; ..."

I like it! The contrast of imagery between fire and ice is intriguing; extreme peace, silence, and tranquility of space contrasted with the intense heat and chaos of re-entry. There is a lot of metaphorical potential in there somewhere, don't you think?

I'm having dificulty maintaining some metrical symetry and continuity with this - not a big deal in "free verse" I suppose, but it does matter if one intends to put it to some sort of coherent music.

It would be interesting to compose a musical tribute like this as a "team effort".

"Columbia" certainly was.