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Rocket Man

"Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)" is a song composed by English singer-songwriter Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin, first released as a single in April 1972 and included on John's fifth studio album, Honky Château. The track, a melancholic ballad, narrates the emotional detachment and longing of an astronaut undertaking routine interplanetary travel, drawing direct inspiration from Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story "The Rocket Man" in the collection The Illustrated Man, which similarly explores the mundane yet profound isolation of spacefarers in a future where such missions are commonplace. The song marked a pivotal moment in John's career, helping to solidify his transition from promising artist to global superstar by blending orchestral elements with rock influences, recorded at in —a site that lent its name to the album and became a creative hub for several musicians of the era. Peaking at number two on the and number two on the , "Rocket Man" achieved commercial success that propelled Honky Château to John's first number-one album on the , underscoring its role in elevating his songwriting partnership with amid the early 1970s rock landscape. Beyond its chart performance, "Rocket Man" has endured as one of John's most iconic compositions, frequently performed live—including at NASA's launches—and covered by artists across genres, reflecting its thematic resonance with human exploration and solitude. Its cultural footprint extends to evoking the era's optimism tempered by personal introspection, though John himself has noted its prescience in capturing the astronaut's dual life of and , a that has influenced subsequent space-themed without descending into .

Music

"Rocket Man" (Elton John song)

"Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)" is a composed by English , with written by . It served as the second single from John's fifth studio album, , released on May 19, 1972, following recording sessions that began in January 1972 at in . The track's draw direct inspiration from Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story "The Rocket Man," which depicts the emotional toll of isolation on family life, a theme echoed in Taupin's portrayal of a spaceman's detachment and longing. The single, backed with "Susie (Dramas)," was issued on April 17, 1972, and achieved significant commercial success, peaking at number 2 on the for one week in June 1972, held off the top spot by 's "." It reached number 1 in and , contributing to Honky Château's chart-topping performance in the . By 2024, the song had surpassed 1 billion streams on , reflecting its enduring popularity. In the , it has sold over 3 million copies, earning triple platinum certification from the RIAA. Critics have praised the song's melodic structure and Taupin's evocative lyrics for capturing themes of and , with John's soaring vocals and orchestral arrangement enhancing its space-age balladry. Notable covers include William Shatner's dramatic spoken-word rendition, performed live at the and featured on his album reissues. Kate Bush recorded a reggae-influenced version in 1991 for the tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & , incorporating and emphasizing ethereal vocals. The song remains a staple in John's live performances, underscoring its role in establishing his superstar status during the .

Literature

Ray Bradbury's "The Rocket Man"

"The Rocket Man" is a by , first published in the March 1951 issue of magazine and later included in his 1951 collection . The narrative, told from the first-person perspective of a young boy named Doug, centers on his father, an who undertakes repeated solo missions to Mars aboard a solar-powered rocket, portraying the profession as an inescapable compulsion akin to addiction rather than heroic adventure. The story spans three years in the family's life, from Doug's age eleven to fourteen, during which the father's absences strain family bonds, culminating in his death from a while en route to . Bradbury depicts the father's returns home as marked by physical and emotional tolls, including phosphorescent skin from radiation and a lingering scent of ionized air that evokes the void's isolation. The protagonist's wife endures these cycles with stoic resignation, burning his gear after each departure to reclaim domestic normalcy, while grapples with idolizing his father's exploits yet witnessing the resultant familial disintegration. In a pivotal exchange, the father extracts a promise from never to pursue rocketry, underscoring the profession's inherent peril and personal forfeiture over any societal glory. Central themes revolve around the psychological and relational costs of , emphasizing empirical realities such as prolonged , , and the normalization of high-risk vocations within . Bradbury rejects utopian portrayals of , instead highlighting causal trade-offs: the father's stems from an intrinsic for the stars, but it erodes earthly ties, rendering adventure a form of self-destructive yearning rather than unalloyed triumph. This focus on psychology—addiction's grip, parental , and a child's dawning of mortality—distinguishes the story from contemporaneous optimistic narratives, grounding ambition in tangible domestic fallout. The story exerted notable influence on , with lyricist citing it as direct inspiration for the title and loneliness motif in Elton John's 1972 song "Rocket Man," drawing parallels to the Bradbury protagonist's solitary voyages and . It has been adapted for radio, including a 1968 dramatization blending elements with Bradbury's "" and appearances in anthology series like Dimension X, preserving its themes of space's inexorable pull. Within , the tale contributes to Bradbury's canon of prescient realism, anticipating real-world astronaut accounts of psychological strain during missions like those to the . Critics have lauded the story for its unflinching depiction of space travel's dangers, predating events like the 1967 fire and disaster by foregrounding individual vulnerability over technological bravado. Bradbury himself advocated as "life-enhancing" while acknowledging its perils, aligning with the narrative's caution against romanticizing the void without confronting its isolating .

Other literary works

"Rocket Man" by Lee Correy, the pseudonym of aerospace engineer G. Harry Stine, was published in 1955 by as a juvenile . The , Tim Layard, enrolls in a international program at a fictional school modeled on New Mexico's institutions, undergoing rigorous training in rocketry fundamentals including liquid-fuel propulsion, guidance systems, and structural integrity under extreme conditions. Stine, who contributed to early U.S. guided missile testing at White Sands Proving Ground in the late , incorporated realistic depictions of trade-offs, such as balancing against capacity in multi-stage vehicles, grounded in verifiable principles like the . The narrative explores adventures in prototype testing and international collaboration amid Cold War-era tensions, portraying rocket pilots as methodical problem-solvers confronting causal failures like combustion instability rather than existential isolation. While praised for its technical prescience—anticipating challenges in real programs like , which faced similar issues in 1957–1958—the book overstated the feasibility of near-term manned orbital flights, a speculation disproven by the incremental engineering hurdles evident in suborbital tests through the . Lacking the emotional resonance of Bradbury's work, it achieved modest circulation in the juvenile SF market but saw no major reprints, remaining obscure compared to contemporaries like Robert Heinlein's (1958), with fewer than 10,000 estimated copies sold based on early runs. Later works invoking similar motifs, such as minor anthologies in the , often recycled rocket pilot archetypes but deviated into unsubstantiated , like drives, ignoring empirical limits on observed in engines from the Jupiter series onward. These depictions prioritized adventure over causal accuracy, contributing to their limited literary endurance absent the authenticity Stine provided.

People

Astronauts and space pioneers

Robert H. Goddard pioneered liquid-propellant rocketry by launching the world's first such rocket on March 16, 1926, in , using a simple cylindrical device fueled by and that reached an altitude of 41 feet over a 2-second burn. His 1919 paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" and subsequent patents, including one in 1926 for liquid-fueled rocket apparatus, laid foundational principles for thrust generation via controlled combustion, influencing later multi-stage designs essential for escaping Earth's gravity. Wernher von Braun advanced ballistic missile and space launch technology through development of the , the first object to reach space in 1944 after achieving 100 km altitude via and alcohol propulsion, producing over 3,000 units that demonstrated reliable guidance and supersonic performance despite wartime constraints. Post-war, as director of 's from 1960, he led the program's engineering, whose five F-1 engines generated 7.5 million pounds of thrust to propel Apollo missions beyond , enabling lunar trajectories through precise . Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter space on April 12, 1961, aboard , completing one in 108 minutes at altitudes up to 327 km, with the spacecraft's service module separation and surviving peak deceleration forces exceeding 8 . This feat validated human physiological tolerance to microgravity and g-forces in a pressurized , though the mission's manual controls and parachute landing carried risks unmitigated by real-time abort systems. Neil Armstrong commanded Apollo 11's to the Moon's surface on July 20, 1969, after a descent burn lasting 12 minutes and 39 seconds, touching down in the Sea of Tranquility with fuel margins under 30 seconds, followed by his lasting 2 hours and 31 minutes to collect 21.5 kg of samples. The mission's success, including 21 hours and 36 minutes on the lunar surface for the crew, confirmed closed-loop and reliability in , with Armstrong's piloting averting a boulder field during powered descent. Human spaceflight has entailed significant risks, with a historical fatality rate of approximately 3-5% per across over 300 manned flights, concentrated in early programs where subsystem failures like fires or reentry anomalies claimed 20 lives in or flight by 1986. The 1986 Challenger disaster exemplified engineering oversights, as the right solid rocket boost's seal failed at launch temperatures of 36°F (-38°C), allowing hot gases to breach the joint 73 seconds after liftoff on , leading to structural breakup and loss of all seven crew despite vehicle disintegration at 46,000 feet. Investigations attributed the root cause to erosion-resistant design flaws unaddressed amid schedule pressures, underscoring causal links between material resilience testing and safety margins.

Political nicknames

In September 2017, U.S. President applied the "Rocket Man" to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a post following discussions with South Korean President about escalating threats, explicitly referencing the song to emphasize the regime's provocative intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests and U.S. resolve against them. reiterated the moniker in his September 19, 2017, address to the , warning that "Rocket Man is on a for himself and for his regime." This usage occurred amid North Korea's accelerated missile program under Kim, which conducted over 200 launches between 2012 and 2023, including multiple ICBM demonstrations capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Proponents of the argued it realistically spotlighted verifiable escalations—such as the July 2017 ICBM test overflying —deterring aggression without precipitating war, as evidenced by subsequent U.S.-North Korea summits in (June 2018) and (February 2019); critics claimed it risked provocation, though no direct causal link to heightened conflict materialized, with North Korea sustaining tests at record paces, including 64 in 2022. The term has also been invoked positively in political discourse to laud Elon Musk's advancements in reusable rocketry through , contrasting private-sector efficiency with government program delays. praised Musk's achievements, which achieved the first successful booster landing on December 21, 2015, enabling re-flights from March 2017 onward and slashing launch costs to approximately $2,700 per kilogram to —far below NASA's historical $10,000+ per kilogram for expendable systems like the Space Shuttle or the (), which exceeds $2 billion per launch for comparable payloads. 's endorsements extended to attending 's test flight on November 19, 2024, in alongside Musk, highlighting the vehicle's potential for Mars amid Musk's goal of multi-planetary human presence. This framing positions "Rocket Man" as a nod to Musk's deterrence of complacency in space policy through innovations like rapid reusability, which have outpaced taxpayer-funded alternatives mired in overruns, such as delays beyond its 2017 target debut. Despite a public feud between and from June to September 2025 over legislative disputes—including Musk's opposition to a major tax bill—their underlying alignment on persisted, with Musk's role in cost-effective orbital access informing Trump's advocacy for commercial partnerships over sole reliance on legacy agencies. The nickname's dual application underscores a causal emphasis on empirical threats (North Korea's arsenal) versus incentives for technological realism (Musk's reusability milestones), prioritizing outcomes like sustained deterrence and reduced launch economics over diplomatic euphemisms.

Film, television, and audio plays

Films

RocketMan is a 1997 film directed by Stuart Gillard, starring as Fred Z. Randall, a clumsy and socially awkward designer who is randomly selected to join NASA's first manned after the original crew falls ill. The narrative emphasizes humor during training mishaps, launch sequences, and planetary exploration, including gags involving shared air hoses, in space suits, and improvised repairs. Produced on a , the film earned $15.4 million worldwide, failing to after costs. Critics noted its energetic, lowbrow comedy reminiscent of or early vehicles, but faulted it for sacrificing plausibility—such as unrealistic depictions of hypersleep pods, instant zero-gravity adaptation without physiological consequences, and Mars landings ignoring and —for broad . The production relied primarily on practical effects and models for and Martian sets, with minimal , contributing to a dated visual style that prioritized visual gags over technical fidelity. Rocketman is a 2019 British musical fantasy biopic directed by , chronicling Elton John's rise from Reginald Dwight's childhood in 1940s to global stardom in the 1970s, emphasizing his musical breakthroughs, flamboyant persona, and battles with , family rejection, and exploitative manager John Reid. portrays John, lip-syncing to re-recorded tracks while performing in fantastical sequences that blend reality with , such as rocket-launch births and levitating concerts. Budgeted at $40 million, the film grossed $195 million worldwide, achieving commercial success driven by John's endorsement and marketing tie-ins.) It garnered acclaim for inventive , Egerton's committed impersonation, and seamless song integration that advanced the , earning an Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. However, reviewers criticized its glossy veneer for under-exploring causal roots of John's self-destructive behaviors—like untreated from parental and industry pressures—opting instead for stylized arcs that romanticize excess without rigorous psychological depth. Visually, it employed a hybrid of practical prosthetics for aging and with extensive for dreamlike effects, though biographical liberties included compressed timelines (e.g., conflating song inspirations) and invented confrontations, diverging from documented events like John's 1975 , which stemmed from relational despair rather than the film's dramatized isolation.

Television and audio plays

Rocket Man is a 2005 BBC television drama mini-series consisting of six episodes, centered on George Addison, a recently widowed Welsh worker played by , who endeavors to construct and launch a homemade rocket to disperse his wife's ashes in space. The production, directed by Sean Glynn and written by and Philip Leach, aired on starting , 2005, and follows George's recruitment of skeptical friends, family, and colleagues to realize his unconventional grief ritual amid personal and logistical obstacles. It garnered a 7.3/10 rating on from 182 user reviews, reflecting appreciation for its portrayal of working-class resilience and emotional authenticity in pursuing space-themed aspirations. The series emphasizes accessible to depict layperson engagement with rocketry, contrasting professional efforts by highlighting improvised in a domestic context, though it prioritizes narrative drama over precise depiction of or launch physics. No major audio plays or radio dramas directly adapting Ray Bradbury's "The Rocket Man" have been prominently documented, with Bradbury's radio legacy instead featuring adaptations of other stories like "" on programs such as Dimension X in the early 1950s.

Video games

Notable titles

Rocket Man (1984), developed for the by Software Farm and programmed by Julian Chappell, is a in which the player controls a navigating levels using propulsion mechanics to avoid obstacles and reach goals, reflecting basic thrust-based movement simplified for 16K hardware limitations. A variant appeared in Games Computing magazine issue 6 for , authored by James McPherson, emphasizing arcade-style challenges with rocket-jumping elements. For Commodore 64, Rocket Man (1985) by Edisoft/Next Game features side-scrolling action where the protagonist uses rocket packs for aerial maneuvers amid enemy encounters, prioritizing quick reflexes over realistic orbital physics. An 1988 iteration from UpTime Magazine/ Publishing expanded on similar propulsion controls in a magazine-distributed format. In modern titles, I Hate Heroes: Rocket Man (2018) on casts players as a employing rocket-thruster hands for zooming through prison levels in a environment, blending platforming with combat; it received mixed user feedback for innovative mobility but criticized controls ignoring fuel depletion realism. Rocket Man (undated, Nintendo homebrew by Light Games) offers action-platforming with boss fights, where rocket abilities enable varied enemy evasion, highlighting scenario diversity over simulation accuracy.

Space exploration context

Literal and colloquial usage

The term "rocket man" literally denotes individuals engaged in the engineering, testing, or operation of rockets, a usage traceable to early 20th-century pioneers developing liquid-fueled propulsion systems, such as Robert Goddard's 1926 launch of the first such rocket on March 16, reaching an altitude of 41 feet. Colloquially, it has applied to rocket scientists, test pilots, and crew members involved in spaceflight since that era, distinguishing informal slang for high-risk roles in propulsion and vehicle control from precise technical designations like aerospace engineers or orbital pilots, who require specialized training in fluid dynamics and guidance systems rather than generalized "piloting." This distinction underscores causal risks in rocketry: engineers focus on ground-based design iterations, while flight personnel face direct exposure to failure modes like structural disintegration, as evidenced by empirical mission data. Human spaceflight statistics highlight the term's real-world stakes, with over 600 individuals having flown to space by October 2025, encompassing roughly 400 orbital missions since Yuri Gagarin's 1961 flight. Pre-Space Shuttle era (1961–1981) flights exhibited elevated fatality rates, approximately 4–5% per mission when accounting for incidents like (1967, one death) and (1971, three deaths), compared to the overall historical rate of 1.2–3% across all crewed flights, reflecting higher uncertainties in early reentry and life-support systems absent modern redundancies. These outcomes stem from first-principles trade-offs, where prioritized altitude gains over exhaustive margins, yielding foundational but at causal cost to human operators. Reusable rocket achievements exemplify private-sector advances, with SpaceX's achieving over 500 successful booster landings by October 2025 across 535 attempts, enabling cost reductions from $60 million per launch in 2010 to under $30 million by 2025 through iterative recovery and refurbishment. In contrast, public programs like NASA's () have faced overruns, with II delayed to February 2026 amid $23 billion development costs and technical issues in solid rocket boosters, illustrating bureaucratic incentives favoring single-use designs over rapid reusability. SpaceX's 2025 cadence—exceeding 130 Falcon launches by October, with plans for up to 200 total—dwarfs competitors like (fewer than 10 annually) and Europe's (initial launches lagging), as private iteration cycles compress development timelines from decades to years. Starship prototypes, tested 11 times from 2024 to October 2025, demonstrate causal progress toward interplanetary capabilities, with Flight 11 achieving validation and booster catch simulations aimed at Mars cargo delivery windows in the , though explosions in earlier tests (e.g., Flights 1–6) underscore propellant sloshing risks mitigated via ground simulations. While crewed missions evoke the "rocket man" for , unmanned variants have empirically generated superior returns—e.g., Mars rovers transmitting petabytes since 1997 versus limited durations—challenging narratives overhyping manned flights for scientific yield, as robotic endurance avoids physiological constraints like limits of 1 per career. This balance prioritizes causal efficiency: reusability and automation scale payload mass to by orders of magnitude, fostering tech spillovers in materials and irrespective of crew presence.