Refrain: The launch cannon thunders. The pilot beam burns Command says shes tracking. The big mirror turns The main beam roars out and the plume reaches high And our lasers are sending out life to the sky Theres a shell standing ready. We load her up fast With five tons of ice for the lasers to blast A clear ton of payload she lifts at ten gees And in five minutes flat shell be orbiting free And? Refrain Now the spacers get the glory. The spacers get the pay But their steel and their air comes from us everyday They may look down their noses at us on the ground But theyre all unemployed if our lasers shut down And? Refrain Now the shuttle men boast of the fires they ride But theyre great clumsy candles with people inside Let them fly limousines. Weve no time for that here We lift more in three days than theyll carry all year And? Refrain From the beam crews on down to the loaders below We work like the devil till the launch boss shouts, Go Then the deep throated roar of a billion watt beam Shakes deep in our bones and takes root in our dreams And? Refrain Then the last shell lifts out and the plume drifts away We greet the next shift and go home for the day But the big lasers burning to lift out a man And well ride our own beams just as soon as we can And? Refrain Yes, our lasers are sending out life to the sky