Grissom, White and Chaffee were the first to pay the price
But others now have felt the fatal falling of the dice
And seven more have lost their lives that we might win the skies
But nothing makes it easier when someone out there dies

It's minus ten and counting but many more may die
As careful as we ever are it costs us lives to try
But all who take the risk of space say, "If we die then take our place
And please when we are gone, carry on, carry on, carry on, carry on."

And if we add the cosmonauts the count is now fourteen
Who paid their lives for men to go where man has never been
And each one knew the dangers and yet bravely still they tried
And begged us all to keep on flying even if they died

We're minus ten who sought the stars but out across the lands
You'll see a million volunteers are raising up their hands
And all of them are well-prepared to pay that final cost
They know that space and all the stars are worth the lives we've lost