Louisville-based Sierra Space officials for months have been talking about the need to hire more employees as the company has picked up more aerospace contracts and inked partnerships for some large-scale space projects in coming years.

They ramped that effort up considerably Thursday with the announcement the company wants to nearly double its workforce of 1,100 with up to 1,000 new hires in 2022, the majority of which will be Colorado jobs, according to a news release.

Last year, the company broke off from Sierra Nevada Corp. to become its own entity. About 700 Sierra Space employees are currently in Colorado.

“Sierra Space has an incredibly important mission to build in space the next platform for business. Space affords a unique environment where new technological breakthroughs will be born and directly enhance our life on Earth,” said CEO Tom Vice in the release. “Sierra Space is at the doorstep of unlocking this next generation of space, led by the launch of our Dream Chaser spaceplane. We are seeking the brightest minds who are inspired by our mission and pioneering spirit to join us at Sierra Space.”

In December, NASA awarded Sierra Space and Blue Origin a $130 million contract to design, build and operate Orbital Reef, which is described as a business park in space. The company will provide the runway-landing Dream Chaser spaceplane for crew and cargo transportation. The ship is capable of landing on runways worldwide.

On the company’s “careers” page on its website, more than 700 positions are posted, including about 400 for engineers.

“The majority of the positions will be in Colorado, with new roles distributed across the Sierra Space facilities in Louisville and South Metro Denver,” according to the release. It will also be hiring for its other locations in Madison, Wis., Brevard County, Fla. and Durham, N.C.

The Denver Gazette first reported billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin plans a south Denver operation, as evidenced by more than 50 Denver-based job openings on the company’s website, a paragraph about south Denver there as well as off-the-record confirmation from numerous sources.

The company reported it concluded “one of the largest ever private capital rounds late last year, with a $1.4 billion Series A investment of primary capital.”