When NASA’s Space Launch System at Kennedy Space Center in Florida fires its engines for the second time in history, it will be flying because of more than 14,000 Coloradans.

It will carry four astronauts, three Americans and one Canadian, on a 10-day course around the moon in what may be the most consequential NASA mission in more than 50 years. 

The mission will be the first crewed mission to our celestial companion since 1972. Artemis, so named as the twin sister of Apollo, is set to take NASA back with the first window to launch opening on Feb. 8. 

While Artemis II won’t land on the moon — the landers are still under development — its mission will be the closest humans have come to touching lunar dust since ’72.

Colorado companies big and small from up and down the Front Range are working to ensure the mission is perfect. It’s not as simple as imitating the Artemis I mission, which launched two years ago. 

Artemis II echoes missions from nearly 60 years ago.

“If you look at Artemis II and Apollo 8, you know, they’re both from the same mold where you’re testing out that you know it’s going to work the way you think,” said NASA’s Chief Historian Brian Odom, referring to 2022 and 1968 missions, respectively. “There’s so much that can go wrong with new experience, new information that you’re getting … There is always a lesson to be learned. You just hope you get to learn that in a situation where you can recover.” 

As the new space race between the U.S. and China builds, Artemis is a planned step for NASA before it attempts a giant leap to Mars. 

Colorado’s aerospace sector plays a major role in all the efforts.

The industry employs 55,000 people directly, according to the state. Nearly half, 26,000, work on programs directly linked to NASA, said Lesley Conn, director of strategic engagement at the Space Foundation, a space advocacy nonprofit headquartered in Colorado Springs. 

There are 26 companies directly tied to Artemis in Colorado Springs, and statewide, Artemis supports 14,000 jobs, she said. 

Colorado has the third-most companies (264) contributing to the Artemis program, behind only California (790) and Florida (399). It has more than twice the number of companies located in Alabama (109), according to NASA’s list of suppliers for the program. 

“The Artemis mission is powered by the Colorado aerospace economy,” said Parker White, director the Colorado Competitive Council. “If you don’t have the Colorado aerospace footprint, you wouldn’t have an Artemis mission.”

Lockheed Martin delivered Orion

Front and center is Lockheed Martin, which built the Orion spacecraft that will carry the Artemis crew. Orion was designed in Colorado.  

“There’s never been anything like Orion,” said Blaine Brown, Lockheed’s director for Orion spacecraft mechanical systems. “We are the only ship that can take humans to deep space and back. Others are just designed for low earth orbit.” 

Orion flew during the Artemis I mission in 2022. The craft spent 25 days in space before splashing down.

With the Space Launch System fully stacked, Orion integrated and all the final checks being completed, Brown is very aware of the big moment in space history. 

“We’re about to start a lunar exploration campaign that will change humanity,” he said. “We’re going to build a base on the moon and there will be people living on the moon.”

Colorado Springs company ensures mission success

Not all of the companies working on Artemis are in the rocket industry, per se. One company in Colorado Springs, Frontgrade Technologies, specializes in high reliability electronics. 

Where a smartphone might begin to display error messages when the temperature gets too high, Frontgrade’s computer chips need to operate in an unforgiving environment.

“Our capability, our bread and butter historically, has always been to design, develop and field either radiation hardened or radiation tolerant microelectronics,” said David Meyouhas, Frontgrade’s president of microelectronics and mission processing.

The company, which was formerly known as CAES before rebranding in 2023, employs about 200 people at its Colorado Springs manufacturing hub and headquarters. More than 100 of those employees are working on the Artemis missions, Meyouhas said.

Frontgrade’s technology can be found in various computer components on Artemis and Orion. 

Not every company is providing hardware for the launch. One company with local ties, Amentum, is working with NASA to ensure all the infrastructure is in place for a smooth launch. 

Amentum is involved in every step of the launch, from vertical rocket assembly to rolling it out to the launch pad to the capsule recovery operations that will happen a continent away. It employs more than 1,300 people in Colorado Springs. 

“The ground support equipment, the infrastructure, is all Amentum’s to maintain,” said Brad McCain, the vice president and program manager for Amentum’s space operations division.

The company receives all the major subassemblies and puts them together at Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) — a little like working with the world’s largest model kit. 

Inside the cavernous VAB, one’s sense of scale is lost. It is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume and has enough space to hold four fully assembled Saturn V rockets, according to NASA. The Saturn V was 363 feet tall and 33 feet wide when fully assembled. The Space Launch System is just slightly shorter at 322 feet. 

“You don’t realize how big it is and what kind of spaceship you’re actually working on. But as the platforms move away and it starts to appear, you realize, ‘hey, we’re getting close,’” McCain said.  “And then that last day and a half, the (platforms are) all gone, and you got a big, giant, most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. … It’s exciting.”