A longshot, as you’ve said it’s not a spacey song, but flash-in-the-pan for sure.
Babylon Zoo - Spaceman ?
Any other hints?
Male or female?
Was it fast or slow?
Crooney? Soulful? Rappy? Sad? Macho? Can you remember the… Feel of the song?
Male. I think band instead of individual. Voices closer to REO Speedwagon than to Springsteen. If I’m not conflating memories, it had a bit of the “feel” of “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlisle–a positive, upbeat song. Very 80s pop–the kind of song that would have been sold on 3 LPs or 2 CDs on late-night TV.
One of the ‘Magic Songs’. I can’t explain.
I keep wondering if it’s something by The Outfield. They check all the marks: upbeat pop-rock, late '80s, male voice kinda similar to REO Speedwagon. But I’ve looked at the lyrics for a few of their hits, and don’t see anything resembling the key phrase.
Looked at the lyrics of all of their songs. One mentioned a rocket, but that wasn’t it.
(I just want to add that the song isn’t particularly *important *to me–it is just one of those things that you halfway remember and it drives you crazy trying to figure it out.)
Can you hum a little bit of it for us?
Love Walks In by Van Halen?
Not it. Very unlikely to be from a band that remained in the public eye for more than 13 seconds–the song played for a few weeks and I’ve never heard it again.
Crowded House - The World Where You Live
'86 release, got to 65 on a the US charts
Dancing in Heaven by Q-feel?
Since it hasn’t been mentioned to be eliminated by the OP, it wouldn’t be Silent Running by Mike & the Mechanics, is it?
A bit too early for your timeline, but the video is bizarre as hell and has a space theme, so it fits in some measure.
Sorry, no. As I mentioned, the song wansn’t “space themed”, it merely mentioned something about wondering if there was other life out there as a philosophical aside or metaphor to the real message of the song (which IIRC was upbeat and positive) and it isn’t a song that you would hear on any radio station or streaming list today (at least, I have never heard it outside of the few weeks that it originally played.) If the song you think of is anything that is in any way popular, iconic, well-known, or used in any soundtrack, there is a 99.99% chance that it isn’t the song. (I was hoping that maybe it would randomly trigger someone’s memory, though–we get lots of really obscure answers here all the time.)
I don’t think the song “Silent Running” is space-themed, but that weird-assed video is.
Like I said, nominated solely to be eliminated. 
Perhaps if you could be hypnotized you could remember some of the subtler details that you’ve forgotten that could narrow it down a little more.
No chance it’s “Silent Lucidity” by Queensrÿche, eh?
No, very syrupy pop or very light rock.
Afternoon Delight by the Starland Vocal Band
No reason to toss this into the ring other than it just popped into my head:
True by Spandu Ballet or
If You Leave by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
And I thought I was the only one who stumped the Dope with a ‘name this song’ thread.
The specs are so vague, this could be almost anything, even stuff like Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
They liked to throw catchy buzz-words in the the songs with almost no regard for context.