California’s nation-leading aerospace industry powers NASA’s historic Artemis II Mission

Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed mission of the Artemis program, sending astronauts on a lunar flyby to test deep-space systems before future moon landings. The mission’s crew is expected to travel around the moon without landing and return to Earth over the course of ten days.

Industry leaders from across California have helped make this mission a reality, providing advanced manufacturing, software development, safety and security services and specialized components such as valves, harnesses, clamps, batteries and cables. Select companies involved in this historic mission include:

• Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company (Canoga Park) is the lead engines contractor for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, upgrading and testing the 16 RS-25 engines to power the flight.
• AMRO Karman Space and Defense (South El Monte) provides machining and welding services for key Artemis components.
• Beranek, LLC Precision Machining (Torrance) manufactures critical components for the SLS.
• Boeing (Los Angeles County) serves as a lead contractor for the SLS core stage, the backbone of Artemis.
• Kirkhill, Inc. (Santa Fe Springs) produces erosion-resistant insulation applied to critical areas along the SLS to protect hardware from weather and extreme temperatures during launch and flight.
• LeFiell Manufacturing Company (Brea) supplies miles of metallic tubing for the SLS Block 1 rocket.
• Lockheed Martin (Los Angeles County) serves as the prime contractor for the NASA Orion spacecraft, responsible for designing, building and testing the capsule that will carry the four astronauts.
• Northrop Grumman (Los Angeles County) provides the twin solid rocket boosters that help power the SLS and key propulsion for Orion’s launch abort system, supporting both mission performance and crew safety.
• Precision Aerospace (Rancho Cucamonga) chemically mills precision RS-25 engine components, including ultra-thin nozzle jackets.
• Precision Tube Bending (Santa Fe Springs) manufactures custom tubing for SLS core stage systems and RS-25 engines.
• Tecma (Sacramento) creates precision parts for inclusion in the rocket’s engine, ignition area and more.
• SpaceX (Hawthorne) is a major Artemis commercial partner, developing the human landing system for future lunar surface missions under NASA’s broader Artemis campaign.
• VACCO Industries (El Monte) produces specialty valves pre-valves and advanced cryogenic fluid control systems for SLS propellant tanks.
• Votaw Precision Technologies (Santa Fe Springs) manufactures large metal parts from SLS flight hardware.

Home to the Future 

California is home to three NASA centers that contribute to the Artemis program: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base and Ames Research Center in Mountain View. Ames teams used advanced computer models to prepare for the 32-story rocket’s smooth ascent and simulated the return of NASA’s Orion spacecraft to Earth. Their researchers will also help guide the mission’s lunar observations.

The Artemis II crew of four highly skilled astronauts includes California native, Victor Glover, who was born in Pomona and earned his undergraduate degree at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo along with a master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. As the first Black astronaut to pilot and reach the moon, Glover embodies California’s diversity and leadership in space exploration. Glover will be joined by Commander Reid Wiseman, a Navy test pilot with International Space Station experience; Christina Koch, who participated in the first all-female spacewalk; and former fighter pilot Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.

When the mission concludes, the Orion spacecraft will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, where a joint NASA and U.S. Navy team deploying from Naval Base San Diego will recover the crew and capsule. The waters off California have welcomed American lunar missions since the Apollo program, including every crewed flight from Apollo 8 through Apollo 17. With Artemis II, California once again anchors the mission from launch to landing, powered by its world-class companies and workforce, and culminating along its renowned coastline.

Generations of aerospace & defense leadership

California’s role in powering human spaceflight stretches back decades. The Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon was built almost entirely in California and the original Apollo spacecraft itself was manufactured across the state. The Space Shuttle fleet was assembled in Palmdale, the first U.S. space station, Skylab, was built in Huntington Beach, and the RS-25 engine – originally developed for the Shuttle and now powering the Space Launch System for Artemis II – has been designed and manufactured in the San Fernando Valley since the 1970s.

As of 2023, California is the top state in the country for:

• NASA spending: NASA procurement spending at $5.8 billion, accounting for 25% of NASA’s total procurement nationwide and resulting in $18.6 billion in economic output for California.
• NASA-supported R&D: California’s share of NASA procurement in R&D services sector is 67%, representing 19% of NASA-supported jobs in the state.
• NASA Employment Impact: Each NASA job in California supports an additional 35.7 jobs across the state, resulting in a total employment impact of 66,208 jobs.

Under Governor Newsom’s California Jobs First Blueprint, Aerospace & Defense is an “accelerate” sector and is underpinned by a highly skilled and experienced workforce, world-class infrastructure and strong public-private investment, contributing an estimated $35 billion annually to California’s gross domestic product (GDP).