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Ground Control to Major Tom



Estimated reading time — 3 minutes

“Did you take your protein pills? Good, now put your helmet on.” Ground Control commanded and Major Tom obeyed. Ground Control droned on as Tom sat in his seat in his cramped capsule and waited. “Commencing countdown, engines are active.” Tom counted down with the man on the microphone as he felt the rush of anxiety flow through his veins. “10… 9… 8…” Tom checked the ignition and heard one final phrase from Ground Control. “May God’s love be with you. LIFTOFF.”

Thats all Tom remembered. He woke up to a deep black outside of his spaceship windows and an eruption of cheers from his headset. “Good work Tom, you’ve really made the grade. Just exit your capsule and pilot the ship.” Tom obeyed and exited his capsule, and floated in a most peculiar way to the pilot’s seat.

Floating through space a hundred thousand miles from Earth was the spaceship of Major Tom. It had been three months since the launch and the only company Tom had was the reiteration of pre-launch instructions in his head, over and over. He looked out his window to observe the moon and stare out to the lonesome lifeless abyss that was deep space. The stars looked very different, Tom thought. More vivid. Bigger, even.

Tom’s view was distracted by a sudden movement. Something had swiftly darted behind the moon. Something quite massive had hidden itself behind the moon. Perhaps an asteroid, Tom thought. But they don’t move that quick. Out from behind the moon jetted what looked like a piece of space itself. It was something very large, black as the night sky and dotted in large glowing lights. And it was coming right for Tom’s ship. Thinking quickly he reversed the thrusters on his ship. The massive space thing had narrowly missed the ship, but had enough momentum to spin the ship rapidly.

Tom was thrown into the ships walls. The familiar voice of Ground Control buzzed in Tom’s ear. “Tom, the ship has received damage all over the hull, what happened?” Tom could only reply “Tell my wife I love her very much.” A different voice from Ground Control echoed “She knows.”

The space thing was coming back for a head-on collision with Tom’s ship. All Tom could do was get into his spacesuit and wait. As the space thing got closer and closer, Tom could see how large it really was. It was snake like and had to be at least a mile long and hundreds of feet wide. As it came within miles of Tom’s ship, it slowed. Eventually it had stopped and just sat there. Staring, it seems. Then, it began to coil itself around Tom’s ship. Metal groaned from the pressure and glass cracked. Tom looked outside his window at the beast. It was just like space itself was tangling itself up around him.

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Machinery began to beep and lights started to die. Tom frantically checked everything he could; the energy was slowly being sucked away. It didn’t take long, perhaps a few minutes, for the ship to be rendered completely powerless. Then, nothing. No more metal groaning and no more glass cracking. Tom was stuck floating around in a powerless ship and he could do nothing about it.

Ground Control had buzzed in his ear one last time. “Major Tom, your circuit is dead. Something is wrong.” Tom didn’t reply. “Can you hear me Major Tom?”

Tom still didn’t reply. “Tom, can you hear me? Major Tom!”

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Tom turned off his only contact to human life. He turned off his life support systems and stared out his window. He saw a floating bit of space going towards a blue planet. With his last breath Tom sang quietly, “Here I am floating in a tin can, far above the moon. Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do.”


Credited to Steve M.

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Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.

157 thoughts on “Ground Control to Major Tom”

  1. Nobody even knows this creepypasta is based of the song Space Oddity my the Majestic unicorn that is David Bowie. For fanaliciousness, i shall have my name as David Bowie.

  2. Really I can agree with everyone here in the comments not the best but really it was a bit creepy to me because space scares the shit out of me. Anyway there are things that can be done to improve, because it is really needed, the pasta itself is to short you can add more depth to it by lengthening the story, but I’m not saying making it longer with the same shit through out this story will make it good. Really I don’t know what else to say about this pasta so yeah.

  3. The title reminded me instantly to the song “Major Tom” by Peter Schilling.
    Don’t knewed that he also recorded a english version of this song (I know only the german one).

    Here the english version:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IVp3uqYZZQ

    This pasta reads like “What really happend to Major Tom” – I like it!

  4. OOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
    Hey there Bowie, what was that sound? I don’t know man, but I think that I might have to turn this ship around!!

  5. I thought it was great. I know the song, as well as the un-official sequel, “Coming Home”. The author should pen a second story involving the later. Very cool, very much left me wanting. Good work!

  6. the hash slinging slasher

    I liked how it was an explanation of the old song i never understood, but there where several things missing. A lot of the actions in the story made no sense whatsoever, but I couldn’t help but be mildly creeped out. Outer space is one of my least favorite concepts, alone… dark… unknown… and if something goes wrong there is no chance, you are completely helpless without hope.

  7. Ground control to major Tom
    Ground control to major Tom
    Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
    (Ten) Ground control (Nine) to major Tom (Eight)
    (Seven, six) Commencing countdown (Five), engines on (Four)
    (Three, two) Check ignition (One) and may gods (Blastoff) love be with you

    This is ground control to major Tom, you’ve really made the grade
    And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
    Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare

    This is major Tom to ground control, I’m stepping through the door
    And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
    And the stars look very different today
    Here am I sitting in a tin can far above the world
    Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do

    Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles, I’m feeling very still
    And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
    Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows
    Ground control to major Tom, your circuits dead, there’s something wrong
    Can you hear me, major Tom?
    Can you hear me, major Tom?
    Can you hear me, major Tom?
    Can you…
    Here am I sitting in my tin can far above the Moon
    Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do

  8. “Anyone who thinks this sucks because it\’s based of off a Bowie song can go blow it out their ass.”
    I’ve only seen people saying it magically doesn’t suck because it’s based off of a Bowie song. Most of the criticism has to do with the awfulness of the pasta in question despite the connection.

    “And for God sake, there is no air in space, a near miss couldn’t cause the space ship to move at all…”
    Glad to see someone else noticed.

    Also, lolscale. Monster ‘darts behind’ moon, but is small enough to constrict around the vessel. Willing suspension of disbelief dropped, along with any trace of immersion.

    This is a bad pasta and the Sovereign would be ashamed to be even loosely affiliated with it.

  9. This was an interesting twist on one of my favorite songs. However, it was kind of hard to get scared when I was busy humming the song as I read.

  10. Anyone who thinks this sucks because it\’s based of off a Bowie song can go blow it out their ass.

    Sure, it wasn\’t creepy, and yeah, it could be a better candidate for another site, but it was still highly intriguing. It had some slightly creepy elements to it, like the thought of total isolation in space, but for the most part, this would be creepiest for someone about to go off on a space mission.

    As a pasta 8/10
    As a creepypasta 2/10.

    I still liked it~

  11. I CAN NOT BELIEVE HOW.. UNEDUCATED YOU GUYS ARE.
    ALL OF YOU, BITCHING HOW THIS PASTA IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

    IT\’S OBVIOUS YOU DON\’T KNOW THE SONG IT\’S BASED OFF.

    FUCKING DAVID BOWIE, MAN.
    IF YOU DON\’T LOVE THAT MAN, IF YOU DON\’T KNOW WHO HE IS, AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU DON\’T DESERVE TO BE ALIVE.

    GOD.

    caps for major rage.

  12. I\’m sorry, but this is one of the few pastas I did not like. And all because the song played in my head. Also, one of the lines made me think, \"Snake? SNAKE!? SNAAAAAAAAAAKE!?!?\"

  13. @smarter than you, i completely agree. i love this song and am a huge fan of David Bowie, but the story was not well written

  14. Thin White Duke

    Well, you tried.

    However, If you’re going to borrow my concept and a large portion of my lyrics, you should at least be certain that you’re going to do a good job. All you did here was embarass yourself and bring more publicity to a song that was released 40 years ago.

    Also, I would demand that you give me a bit of credit for my lyrics, but the story is so badly written that I dont really mind the anonymity.

  15. So he’s been travelling outwards from Earth for 3 months, and yet can still transmit and receive radio messages instantly? I would have thought there would be at least a minute or two’s delay. surely? Also, pasta was bollocks, kindly write better ones in the future.

  16. SmarterThanYou

    For everyone that keeps saying ‘you don’t get it, listen to the song and you’ll get it,’ I’d like to speak for everyone else and say that, no, we get it. It just sucks.

  17. It made me kinda sad, and I like the fact that it’s based on a David Bowie song, but it doesn’t really have a place here on creepypasta.

    It would do well as a stand-alone piece on a different website somewhere, I think, but I’m not sure where you could put it.

    It could definitely be expanded on and made better, but the basic plot and story is alright.

    However, it made the actual song a bit creepier to listen to now.

    In all, 7/10.

  18. and sorry “someone you don’t wanna meat” but u can’t photoshop lyrics, u can photoshop pictures, those are the actual lyrics, listen to the song.

  19. I am replying to an earlier post. I’m not saying you should like the song, but if you can’t visualize yourself floating through space in a small control center 1/8 the size of the shuttle’s then u must not have a very good imagination

  20. someone you dont wanna meat

    Uhm, so while you all are bitching about it being a really stupid story, I would like to point out that this so-called, non-creepy, “creepypasta” is obviously photoshopped, Just look at the pixels just above Tom’s name it just isnt right. OBVIOUS PHOTOSHOP!

  21. roflmao you guys actually think this is a serious? the author actually based the story after a song called space oddity i lol’d at this whole story.

  22. This was terrible; poorly written.

    HOWEVER, to its merit….

    “Major Tom, your circuit is dead. Something is wrong.”

    That made me chuckle. “Hi Tom, something is wrong.”

    O RLY

  23. Listen the story wont make sense until you listen to the Space Oddity song.

    Listen to the song then write your opinion.

  24. I personally think it’d be WAY more effective to make a creepypasta based off of a Tool song… Like Eulogy. Somebody try that. Shit brix for real :D

  25. You misquoted the song, dude. “Commencing countdown engines on”, not “Commencing countdown, engines are active.” And it wasn’t very well written.

  26. “The massive space thing had narrowly missed the ship, but had enough momentum to spin the ship rapidly.”

    Not only is this line amazingly well written, but it also brings a whole new meaning to the word “momentum”. And for God sake, there is no air in space, a near miss couldn’t cause the space ship to move at all…

    Finish your high school core classes and try again.

    The original idea of turning Space Oddity into a creepy pasta is kind of cool. Great Song. Unfortunately, everything else about this pasta sucked.

  27. “The massive space thing had narrowly missed the ship, but had enough momentum to spin the ship rapidly.”

    Not only is this line amazingly well written, but it also brings a whole new meaning to the word “momentum”. And for God sake, there is no air in space, a near miss couldn’t cause the space ship to move at all…

    Finish your high school core classes and try again.

    The original idea of turning Space Oddity into a creepy pasta is kind of cool. Great Song. Unfortunately, everything else about this pasta sucked.

  28. Anyone notice how the monster is described a lot like the monster for the ‘Beings’ tab at the top of this page?

    I saw a comment in here somewhere mentioning that.

  29. What the bloody fuck. This -is- creepy. The writer stole minutes of out lives that we’ll never get back or appreciate spending.

  30. Y’all trollin’ crackas be missin’ the hilarity.
    THIS IS LIKE “THE DAY OF ALL THE BLOOD” OR THE “HERON” CREEPYPASTA, IT’S FOR LULZ.

    That said, David Bowie=<3

  31. i didnt like how it was written. It didnt get my attention but I read it anyway…but..that last sentence is epic… :-D

  32. Did anyone else think of Chicken Little when they read this piece of shit?

    Oh noes, the sky really is falling. The poor children.

  33. As a die-hard Bowie fan I loved this. But I could see why anyone who doesn’t feel the same about the song wouldn’t respond to it. Still though, I think its far from the abuse being whirled at you. I was disturbed, but then again I have sort of a life long fear of outer space, stars, planets, et cetera…

  34. The Bowie version of this song is gay.

    Peter Schilling does a much better version. Suck it.

    Also, weak pasta was weak

  35. No.

    All this was was a more heavily narrated version of the song, with a shitty monster thrown in. Stupid. Shit. Unnecessary. Anyone can take lyrics from a song and make them dialogue as they narrate the same damn story that the fucking song is telling in the first place. This is shit and it disgraces Bowie, go to hell.

  36. Violent Harvest

    Not his best, but he’s written some creepy shit. Check the Monolith forums if you don’t believe me.

  37. This pasta bothers me. I don’t think whoever wrote it has any concept of scale (something a mile long and hundreds of feet long is not big enough to look MASSIVE darting behind the moon. It very well might not be big enough to be VISIBLE, and seriously, how fast is this thing going to pass by the moon in what is implied to be seconds? Or are we on a scale model of the solar system here?), and even my marginal knowledge of astronomy makes me cry for the future of people who think that this makes any sense.

  38. I understand that it builds off the lyrics of a song, but it still felt really half-assed. And what about all the people that don’t know the song? Or don’t know it’s based off a song? Try again please. :D

  39. Fuck David Bowie and fuck you.

    Noseriouslythough. What was the point of making the pointless song reference? Did you recently come out of your cultural comatose and find that music existed years ago, and now have to infuse it with everything you do? Obsession is unhealthy, and it certainly is boring for the rest of us.

    This story probably could have been good if I wasn’t so busy hating you for the pointless character copying. Besides that, giantspacethingdestroysearth has been done before, and has been done better. I didn’t like it, I didn’t like it at all.

    3/10. It had words, and dey ben dun speld gud. So it at least gets some points, right?

  40. I LOVE THE IDEA OF THIS BUT GOD COULD SOMEONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY RIGHT TRY TO DO A BETTER JOB?

    the song itself used to give me chills at the “Tell my wife I love her very much” part.

    but I think tis is a good concept, just needs someone who knows wtf they’re doing to write it.

  41. Slightly Cloudy

    I swear I would strangle all of you.
    For those that said there was no build up to the danger, you’re damn retarded.
    He sees something dart behind the moon (suspenseful build up)
    Then that something charges his ship which he narrowly dodges.
    Lastly, you’re all retarded.

  42. Shit. Utter fucking shit. There was nothing good about this. It doesn’t matter if it’s based on a song, if it sucks and isn’t creepy then it sucks and isn’t creepy.

  43. Did no one realize that the creature he was describing was the picture at the top of the website? Under the “Beings” tab? anyone?

    It wasn’t too bad. Not so much creepy as it was clever.

  44. retarded smurf under your bed

    i agree with katie when you read the song it makes cents btw after i read the song it was kinda creepy

  45. Just because its based on a song doesn’t automatically means its shittiness is overlooked. Get over your fanboy-ism and realize this is fucking “creepypasta.com” not “jack off to refererences to old songs that I feel superior to others for knowing about.com”

  46. Here again, trying to understand how listening to the song it’s based on somehow makes this un-shitty.
    (I don’t think it does)

    P.S. — I’ve heard the song, so piss off with those “you don’t understand waaahhh” type comments.

  47. It wasn’t creepy. Or sad.
    And yes I recognise the song it was based off of, but it doesn’t belong here.

  48. …i guess i’m alone in this, but i really like this one. i love space creepypastas! i also love sadpastas.

  49. Being based on a good song doesn’t save this story from being shitty. If you’re going to expand on something, then actually expand on it. There was no build-up to the danger, no suspense for when the danger appears, and no satisfying ending at all. Not that it matters, but I’m thoroughly disappointed.

  50. I love this pasta,for the fact that is based on one of my favorite Bowie songs ever.
    But I want something CREEPY dammit

  51. Eh, I’d rather listen to the original song for the hundred millionth time than read this.

    I think there’s some potential for creepiness in the original Major Tom cycle (specifically Space Oddity and Ashes to Ashes) The idea of a cosmonaut being lost on a routine expedition followed by mysterious transmissions from his spacecraft being picked up on Earth twenty years later could have made for a slightly unnerving scenario. Sadly this piece ditches all the themes of isolation and despondence of the original in favor of LOL SPACE MONSTAR!.

    Why didn’t we just post the lyrics to the original song in the first place?

  52. I bet none of you people giving bad reviews have even heard the song this is based on.

    I didn’t think it was creepy, but it was fairly entertaining. Isn’t that all that matters? :P

    1. sort of but some context would help. metion before the story the song or something. or those of us who havent heard it the story is too fast and not enough to be a story.

  53. David Bowie here

    dude, I thought it was pretty good. Great spin off of the song, and you stayed true to it. I think you should’ve expanded on the song a bit more, that might’ve made it creepier. Not bad none the less.

  54. Blinded by Tears

    THIS is CREEPYpasta? Moar like CRAPPYpasta.
    Sucked ass to be honest. The fact that it’s based on a David Bowie song is good- but it’s supposed to be CREEPY. Not LAME. This stuff is supposed to make you shit brix. Not go ‘aww’.

  55. Feaster of Fear

    I really do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this…..story…….for I doubt it can be called pasta, let alone creepy, simply does not belong on this site. Yes, I am familiar with the song it references, but for god sake this is creepypasta.com, not visualize_a_song.com

    Overall a poor attempt. Overusage of Tom’s name which was Tom; did you know Tom’s name was Tom, cause I didn’t know Tom’s name was Tom. On top of that, song reference or not, you need to create a story of some sort, paint a picture, you know? The “picture” that this creates is equivalent to that of a kindergartener dipping his ass in the fingerpaint, then running gleefully around a room covered in paper. Lastly, it just….wasn’t creepy.

    I’ll be incredibly nice and say 2/10

  56. Oh no, some space monster stole the energy out of your spaceship and may or may not be headed to do the same to Earth? I’m terrified.

    This was utterly boring from start to finish.

    I also don’t understand how all of the power can he siphoned off, but for some reason life support and communications are still up.

  57. i had to re-read the last bit to get the story; and meh.. Its good but im not scared for the earth now or anything :P

  58. Heywood Jablome

    Earth below us, drifting, falling, floating weightless, coming hoooome…

    Yes, I like the Peter Schilling song better than Space Oddity.

  59. for all the people who wanna give this a negative review, you need to hear the David Bowie song, and realize how awesome it is. This pasta expands on the lyrics of a legendary song, and does so well.

  60. Did not care for this. I’m actually fairly certain that this was just a random project someone did, not really even a creepypasta attempt.

  61. Interesting little tale, it makes me think of World of Darkness.

    And enough with the first/second/third bullshit =/

  62. Not too well written. If you’re going to set a story in space, at least be a little more familiar with astrophysics, space travel, etc.

  63. Mr. Nobody, I just thought I’d let you know… this is hard to say, but uh, you’re actually fourth. Three spaces after 1st. Just so we know our numbers… Please feel free to leave your dignity at the door. I’ll wait…

  64. You’d think the author would know that every once in a while, it’s possible to use “he” instead of “Tom.”

    Christ.

    All I got out of this was TOM TOM TOM LOLOL DEBRIS WORLD END SPAAAACE LOL

  65. I could not read this without the song it’s based off of playing through my head. It’s one of my favorite David Bowie songs :). the story was kind of weird but it provides a good perspective on a classic song. I’m not sure how someone who wasn’t a fan of Bowie would think of it though :/

    1. i liked it for the most part but when you call ypur creature “space thing” you take the malace from it even “space serpant” would have been better

      1. Please learn how to spell…I apologize for being a grammar perfectionist, but misspelled posts really get to me.
        Personally, I liked this pasta, but it could have used a little more detail. 7.5/10.

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