Elton wrote the song Rocket Man during the Honky Château sessions in January 1972 at the Château d'Hérouville studio in Paris, France. It was performed live for the first time at Elton's concert at the Royal Festival Hall on February 5, 1972, almost two months before its release as a single in the UK.

On April 28, 1972, the morning of his concert at the University of Houston, TX, Elton and his band visited the NASA Space Center. Following a simulated Moon landing, Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot (CMP) Al Worden, who flew to the Moon in 1971, gave…