The Rocket man is a short story from the anthology, The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury. The story served as inspiration to Bernie Taupin, long-time song-writer for Elton John, in the song Rocket Man. Taupin also pays homage to the story, Zero Hour (also in the same anthology of short stories by Ray Bradbury) in the song lyrics for Rocket Man, “She packed my bags pre-flight / Zero hour, nine AM”.