We did not die in vain

-----------------------------We did not die in vain---------------------------

Why did we die? That's what we do,
As those have done before.
We've done it since the world was young,
To open up the door.
The frontier is our constant goal,
To see what may be found
Beyond the distant the mountain range;
Across the wave-swept sound.

In ships of skin, or wood, or steel
We sail the unmapped sea.
From shore to shore, from earth to moon,
Into the galaxy.
We are the ones who blaze the trail.
Our bones we leave behind.
To mark the way as milestones
Along the roads we find.

We are the ones who always dare,
What others fear to do.
To cast a light into the dark
Exposing all to view.
Many of us die unknown
With none to know our name.
Others blaze in history
In never ending fame.

Shackleton and Peary are names
You should know well.
Grissom, White and Chaffee be
Among the ones who fell.
We join them, and the legions
Before us on the trail,
To go where "Thyre be Dragons",
They died... But did not fail.

We too have left the living.
We ask you not to grieve.
We did not want your sorrow.
This you must believe.
Celebrate instead our glory.
And take the paths we trod.
While stand we with the heros
Beside the throne of God.

Don't let our deaths be wasted.
Don't let it be in vain.
We're waiting and we're watching
For a ship to sail again.
The universe is waiting
The next big step is Mars
To complete our final mission
and go on... to reach the stars.