Colorado's aerospace industry is playing a significant role in the Artemis II mission, a high-stakes crewed test flight for NASA's return to the Moon. The mission supports over 600 Colorado employees and 400-plus in-state suppliers, including BAE Systems and Honeybee Robotics. Lockheed Martin has based its Orion spacecraft system and crew capsule in Colorado since the early 2000s. The project aims to test Orion, NASA's Space Launch System rocket and mission operations. If successful, this mission will mark the first time humans have traveled to Moon's vicinity since Apollo 17 in 1972. The aerospace industry employs 55,000 people directly and another 184,000 indirectly.