"Countdown" is a song by Rush from their 1982 album Signals. Its lyrics are about the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which the band members watched from a VIP area called "Red Sector A" (the name was later used for a song on the band's next album, Grace Under Pressure). The song incorporates audio from voice communications between astronauts John W. Young and Robert Crippen and ground control along with commentary from the Kennedy Space Center Public Affairs Officer leading up to the launch.