The Astronaut Age

In 1960, a President had the idea of entering man into space,
But then the Russians sent a satellite up and began the race.
So out of many 7 were selected to orbit the Earth.
As a result, man's will to go to the moon gave birth.

In 1969, two men went to the Moon,
And not a moment too soon.
It was "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
And to space our fates were intertwined.

A year later man got trapped on the way to the lunar,
So they had to change their plans and go home much sooner.
There was a problem with the heat shield,
But they did return and they didn't yield.

In 1985, the Challenger went up, including the first woman astronaut Ms. Sally Ride,
The astronauts brought renewed hope for NASA but the astronauts died.
The shuttle went up but it blew up in the clouds,
A President tried to ease the fears of people as he spoke bravely yet loud.

Another space shuttle two decades later fell apart across the land,
That we wondered if it was worth having missions that were manned.
But then we grew up and discovered that private space missions could happen,
To the point where we'll go back is no longer a question of if but when.