[Verse 1]
Sealed tin can, breathing borrowed sky,
Oxygen bleed keeps the numbers standing by,
Lithium hydroxide eats the carbon dioxide ghost,
Scrubber canisters swapped like the crew needs most.
Humidity's a thief, condensation on the wall,
Desiccant wicks drink the moisture 'fore it falls,
Glycol loop cycling, heat pump running cold,
Twenty-one degrees is the number that we hold.
[Chorus]
O, C, H, T — that's the code we chant,
Oxygen, Carbon, Humidity, Temp — the life support rant,
Belts and beams and gravity's g,
Learn the letters, save the crew, that's the mnemonic key.
[Verse 2]
Van Allen belts wrap the Earth in a doughnut of dread,
Inner one's protons, outer electrons instead,
Cross it quick, don't linger in the torus of pain,
Trans-lunar coast rides the plane where the doses restrain.
Solar particle event, sun spits a flare,
Storm shelter's the water wall, hide in there,
Galactic cosmic rays — heavy nuclei, slow rain,
Shielding's thin, so the mission clock's the safest gain.
[Chorus]
O, C, H, T — that's the code we chant,
Oxygen, Carbon, Humidity, Temp — the life support rant,
Belts and beams and gravity's g,
Learn the letters, save the crew, that's the mnemonic key.
[Verse 3]
Three and a half g's pressing chest to the seat,
Vibration's the shudder underneath your feet,
Vestibular system — inner ear's own compass and level,
Confused in freefall, that's why astronauts revel
In slow moves first, adaptation's the game,
Fluid shifts upward, puffy face, same,
Launch escape tower yanks the capsule clear,
Abort modes stacked from the pad to translunar frontier.
[Bridge]
Mode one, low and fast, tower pulls you away,
Mode two, contingency splashdown holds sway,
Abort to orbit, or a straight return home,
Every second of ascent has an exit sewn.
[Verse 4]
Suit's a spacecraft sewn to fit your skin,
Pressure garment, cooling garment layered within,
Backpack breathes for you, seven hours of air,
Visor's gold-coated, sunlight doesn't glare.
Two weeks of food is vacuum-sealed and light,
Water's reclaimed, waste bags zipped up tight,
Fourteen days of living folded in a can —
Life support's the quiet hum that keeps the plan.
[Chorus]
O, C, H, T — that's the code we chant,
Oxygen, Carbon, Humidity, Temp — the life support rant,
Belts and beams and gravity's g,
Learn the letters, save the crew, that's the mnemonic key.
[Outro]
O, C, H, T, and the belts overhead,
Every system's a promise that the crew won't dread,
Sing the code till the numbers feel like home,
Weightless now, but never left alone.