How Colorado is involved in historic Artemis II lunar mission

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Astronauts have left Earth for the first human trip around the moon, exceeding low Earth orbit, in more than 50 years.

Four astronauts, NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, are off to circumnavigate the moon as part of the Artemis II mission.

Liftoff happened right at 4:36 p.m. MT.

MORE HERE: Artemis II launch day from Kennedy Space Center

Local astronaut Nichole Ayers narrated the preparations throughout the day on Wednesday. KRDO13 has followed Ayers' journey since she graduated from the NASA astronaut program through Rice University in Houston. Before that, Ayers graduated from Woodland Park High School and the Air Force Academy.

We also followed her journey into space from the time she left to go to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to the time she successfully led the SpaceX Crew 10 to the International Space Station (ISS).

Last year, after nearly five months orbiting Earth on the International Space Station (ISS), Woodland Park’s own Nichole Ayers made it back to solid ground.

Ahead of Wednesday's launch, Ayers shared more about her experience going interstellar while also breaking down what we could expect in the launch.

"You know, for me personally, it kind of felt like we got slingshotted off the Earth, is how I like to describe it. So, you know, you get set back in your seat, and the G-forces are into your chest," explained Nichole Ayers.

She noted how one remarkable part of the Artemis II mission was the data that the astronauts would be able to collect.

"Obviously, we're not landing with this mission. And so they actually potentially could see the South Pole and kind of scope out what our landing regions look like in the context of the entire moon. But also, they're going to see parts of the lunar surface that have never been seen before by the human eye," said Ayers.

According to NASA, development, testing, and assembly of Orion take place at several different Lockheed Martin facilities across the country. This includes Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Canyon campus near Denver, which has been a hub of space innovation since the 1950s, and has more than 4,000 employees and a wide range of industry-leading design, manufacturing, and test facilities on site, according to NASA.

Lockheed Martin assembles Orion (Artemis I & II) at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building.

"We have a significant part of the engineering team in Denver. We produce a lot of the components that go into this vehicle out there in Colorado as well. And so that has been a key part of this program, and the relationship that we have with Colorado is tremendous," said Paul Benfield with Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin employs more than 14,000 people in Colorado.

The space industry employs 55,000 people directly, according to the state. Nearly half, 26,000, work on programs directly linked to NASA, the Space Foundation, a space advocacy nonprofit headquartered in Colorado Springs, tells KRDO13.

There are 26 companies directly tied to Artemis in Colorado Springs, and statewide, Artemis supports 14,000 jobs, the Space Foundation confirmed. 

Colorado has the third-most companies (264) contributing to the Artemis program, behind only California (790) and Florida (399), according to the Space Foundation.

"Today, people around the world share this generation's Moon moment and celebrate the Artemis II crew and the extraordinary team supporting them. All of us at Space Foundation congratulate the crew, the entire Artemis team, and the remarkable people whose dedication has once again made history and brought humanity one step closer to the Moon," wrote Heather Pringle, CEO of Space Foundation.

For more information on the launch, click here.

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