Space Ship One

Space Ship One

Words and Music © 2003 Mark E. Horning Rev. 11-06-04
Strum, reasonably fast, 4/4 Time, Capo 2


Chorus:
Did you hear they're building spaceships, in the California sun?
Reliable, and cheap to build, the race is all but won.
The doubters - they can stay behind, their day is all but done,
The rest of us are going to the stars.


They built her as a secret, but I know they built her well,
and have laid up carbon fiber in a strong epoxy shell.
Aluminum and fiberglass make her light enough to sail,
and she rides a hybrid rocket with no turbo-pumps to fail.

Oh she's built by Scaled Composites, and good old Burt Rutan,
and if anyone can do it, I know that those folks can.
And they built her under budget, with no taxpayer funds.
The first truly private spacecraft, so they call her Space Ship One.

Rpt Chorus-

High above the desert, at Edwards AFB,
The X-15 broke through the sky, the black of space to see.
And 40 odd years later, in those self-same very skies,
A rocket-powered ship will roar, as through the sky she flies.

Bridge:
A hundred years since Kitty Hawk,
And Will and Orville Wright.
She's the greatest aviation jewel,
in a century of Flight.


Well I know she won't make orbit, but she's over half way there.
And once you are in orbit, you're halfway to anywhere.
Give them another decade; they'll build cities on the moon.
The future starts tomorrow. Make way for Space Ship Two!

Rpt Chorus-


Pack your bags; we're going to the stars.