Welcome back to our Bucket Listicle series, where we compile some of our favorite and most interesting facts about the Mile High City. This week’s Bucket Listicle is unique because it takes us somewhere far, far away from Colorado: the Moon!
Sometime in March at the earliest, NASA will launch its Artemis II mission, which will be the first manned mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first mission of the Orion Spacecraft with a crew aboard.
Although the spacecraft will take off in Florida, the Artemis II program has extremely deep ties right here in the Centennial State. For this week’s Bucket Listicle, we’ve put together our five favorite ways that Colorado has contributed to humanity’s return to the Moon.
AI assisted with the research for this article, but we promise the writing is all us.
1.) Colorado is an aerospace industry powerhouse
Colorado is one of the nation’s biggest aerospace hubs, with thousands of engineers and scientists working hard every day to advance space exploration.
With massive aerospace industry heavyweights like Lockheed Martin and the Sierra Nevada Corporation headquartered in Colorado, you can be almost certain that almost every American-made spacecraft you see entering orbit has some piece that comes from the Centennial state.
2.) The Orion Spacecraft capsule was built here
Speaking of Lockheed Martin, did you know that the capsule carrying the astronauts around the moon is a product of Colorado? Lockheed Martin Space, headquartered near Littleton, designed and built NASA’s deep-space crew capsule for Artemis missions.
Lockheed Martin’s involvement goes beyond the capsule as well. They are also engineering future lunar landers and surface vehicles, employing thousands across the metro area. That means that Colorado’s hands are shaping the hardware astronauts will rely on many miles from Earth.
3.) A Golden-based startup is building the Moon rovers
Yes, you read that correctly — literal Moon rovers. Lunar Outpost, a tech startup from Golden, is building the rovers that will accompany the astronauts to the Moon on Artemis missions. Their MAPP rovers and other programs are designed to assist crewed missions to the Moon by transporting instruments and scouting uncharted terrain.
It doesn’t end there either, as Lunar Outpost is also developing technology to allow astronauts to grow their own food in space. Pretty cool stuff, huh?
4.) CU Boulder is on the cutting edge of Moon science and research
At the University of Colorado Boulder’s brand-new Smead Aerospace Sciences Building, pivotal research about the Moon and space exploration is being done by students, scientists and engineers alike.
CU Boulder is widely known as one of the best schools in the country for aerospace engineering, as their Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics contributes lots of expertise, research and tools for lunar missions.
An example of some of the work they’ve done is mapping parts of the moon and studying moon dust to discover its composition. These research efforts help answer big questions about the Moon’s environment, like how humans can safely live and work there long-term.
5.) Colorado helped forge the original path to the Moon
Let’s throw things back, specifically to the Cold War. During the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, Colorado-based company Martin Marietta developed the Titan rocket, powerful boosters originally designed for intercontinental missiles.
Those same Titan rockets later proved to be an integral part of NASA’s Gemini program and helped test the systems that made Apollo possible. In a strange twist of history, weapons of the Cold War that were developed right here in Denver helped lay the groundwork for astronauts eventually walking on the Moon.
Martin Marietta later merged into what’s now Lockheed Martin, meaning Colorado’s legacy of lunar exploration stretches from Cold War missile silos to Artemis-era lunar missions.
Colorado doesn’t usually get framed as a “space state” in the way Florida or Texas do, but maybe it should. For decades, our state has been quietly building the backbone of America’s space ambitions. The Artemis program may be focused on the Moon, but its roots stretch through Denver suburbs, Boulder labs and foothill startups.
When you tune into the launch of Artemis II, which is now delayed to at least March because of a hydrogen leak during rehearsal, remember that this mission wouldn’t exist without Colorado’s contributions. Not bad for a landlocked state 250,000 miles from the moon!
Ryland Scholes
Production Manager & Reporter/ Bucket List Community Cafe
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